Easy and Healthy Quinoa Breakfast

Quinoa is rich in riboflavin, manganese, iron, contains twice as much fibre than most grains and adds a complete vegetable protein to your breakfast!

Quinoa is also great for people who have gluten intolerance because it is gluten-free. It also contains bioactive substances such as Quercetin which are known for their potent anti-inflammatory, antioxidant and antiviral properties.

Ingredients:

Quinoa

• 1/2 cup quinoa
• 1 cup water
• sea salt to taste

Toppings

• 1/2 cup steel cut oats
• 1/2 cup mixed berries (any of your favourite berries)
• 1 Tbs pumpkin seeds
• 1 Tbs almonds
• 1 tsp honey

Directions:

Preparing the perfect Quinoa

1. Place 1/2 cup well-rinsed quinoa in saucepan with 1 cup water and salt. Cover and bring to a boil.
2. Turn the heat to low, simmer for 5 minutes. Turn off heat after 5 minutes.

Quinoa Breakfast

1. Place cooked quinoa in bowl, adding the steel cut oats.
2. Top bowl with mixed berries, pumpkin seeds and almonds.
3. Add honey to taste.

Suggestion: Serve with Delicious Berry Blast Breakfast Smoothie

Enjoy! 🙂

Snack | Blueberry Almond Chia seed Pudding

Prep time: 5 minutes

Ingredients:

• 2 cups almond milk (sub: coconut milk, or soy milk work just as well)
• 1 Tsp Chia seeds
• 1 tbsp honey (sweetener sub: stevia, molasses, brown sugar, cane sugar are healthy options as well)
• 1 cup blueberries

Directions:

Mix almond milk, chia seeds, and honey in the jar and place in refrigitaot for 10 minutes. Alternatively, you can let it sit overnight to wake up to a delicious breakfast!

Top with blueberries just before serving.

Enjoy! 🙂

3-Ingredient Energy Boosting Juice

I make this carrot-apple-ginger glass of delicious goodness at least 3 times each week – it’s packed with nutritious content and offers a lot of health benefits! 🙂

Healthy Immune Function

Carrot and ginger juice are great for your immune system because of their rich supply of vitamins A and C.

• Vitamin A helps new cells grow, nourishes your skin and boosts your immune system.
• Vitamin C helps you produce white blood cells and protects from cell-damage

Potassium and Magnesium

Juicing apples, carrots and ginger also helps you consume more potassium and magnesium, two minerals that play key roles in your health.

• Potassium helps your cells transmit electrical impulses, and it keeps your heart, muscles and digestive tract functional.
• Magnesium nourishes your bones and teeth, and helps produce the energy you need to get through the day

Vitamin K

Fresh carrots, apples and ginger serve as a refreshing source of vitamin K.

Getting enough vitamin K contributes to the health of your bones, but its main role involves blood clotting.

Ginger Phytonutrients

Using ginger in your juicing provides beneficial phytonutrients, including compounds that fight cancer growth.

The terpenoids activate a cancer-fighting protein called p53, triggering the death of cancer cells!

15-Minute Shrimp and Avocado Lunch

This dish provides for a great tasting combination of shrimp and plenty of health-promoting vegetables. It’s so quick and easy to make! 🙂

Ingredients:

• 1 lb  medium sized shrimp
• 1 tomato chopped
• 1 freshly squeezed lemon
• 1 tsp balsamic vinegar
• 1 ripe avocado
• 1/2 chopped capsicum
• 4-5 Asparagus chopped
• 5 Mushrooms chopped
• 1 tbs cilantro finely chopped
• salt and pepper to taste
• extra virgin olive oil to taste

Directions:

1. Make sure shrimp is completely unfrozen if you buy it already cooked, for freshness. Cook on non-stick pan for 10-15 minutes in extra virgin olive oil.
2. Add salt, pepper, vegetables, vinegar, and garnish with cilantro. Squeeze fresh lemon juice.

Serve hot.

Enjoy!

5 Tips to Healthier Shopping at Your Next Visit to the Grocery Store

Shopping smart is essential to maintaining a healthy and holistic diet. Here are 5 things I stay mindful of when at a grocery store:

1. Most grocery stores have the produce section right at the front. Try picking a rainbow of colourful fruits and vegetables. Why is variety in colour important? That’s an excellent question! 🙂 Variety of colour represents different phytonutrients, minerals and vitamins contained in each produce.
   • For instance, fruits such as prunes, strawberries, pomegranate, and blueberries are rich in antioxidants. Studies show that drinking a glass of pomegranate juice might improve blood flow to the heart in people with myocardial ischemia, a serious condition in which the heart’s oxygen supply is compromised because the arteries leading to it are blocked.
2. While organic might be an ideal choice, it can get expensive very quickly. Find a balance that works for you economically and strive for “real” foods. Real foods are foods that have none to very few additives, are minimally processed,  and generally as close to nature as possible.
3. Add nuts to your shopping list: I find portable seeds such as cashew, almonds, and sunflower seeds tend to make a great healthy snack. For instance, just a handful of sunflower seeds can help suppress appetite while fuelling our bodies with plenty of magnesium, vitamin E and selenium! Macadamia nuts are known to provide the highest amount of monounsaturated fat or ‘clean fat’ among the different kinds of nuts.
4. Try and stay clear of aisles with junk foods. A tip for parents who don’t want their kids to develop the habit of eating junk food is to first not have junk food in the house.
5. Bottom line: Avoid items containing more than 5 artificial ingredients. Don’t buy an item that contains more than 5 ingredients that you have no knowledge of or can’t pronounce.

Happy healthy shopping! 🙂

Fitness | 3-Circuit Core Workout

• Start with light cardio
• Repeat each Circuit 3x before moving on to the next
• End with 5-min cool down stretches

With this dynamic core workout, your whole body is engaged allowing for overall strength-training + cardio! (Image credits: PopSugar)

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My 3-Minute Guacamole

This Mexican favourite is source of health-promoting monounsaturated fats and vitamin A! 🙂

Serves: 2

Ingredients:

• 1/2 ripe avocado
• 1/2 freshly squeezed lemon
• 1/2 cup cilantro, chopped
• Sea salt and pepper (added to taste)
• Optional: diced tomatoes

Directions:

Simply combine all ingredients in a blender and blend on medium for 30 seconds. Alternatively, you can mash the avocado with a potato masher or fork and then add the rest of the ingredients.

Enjoy!

Valentine’s Day Treat | Chocolate Fondue

Show your love with this romantic Chocolate Fondue recipe – it’s so easy to make, healthy, and absolutely divine to devour!

SERVES: 2

INGREDIENTS

• 3 ounces dark chocolate, chopped (60% or more is healthier for the heart!)
• 3 tablespoons non-fat yogurt
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• Pinch of sea salt (to taste)
• 1 banana peeled and cut into dipping slices (Also try: apricot, peach, marshmallows, strawberries!)
• 4 1-inch chunks fresh pineapple

PREPARATION

1. Place chocolate, yogurt, vanilla extract and sea salt in a medium nonstick skillet and heat on medium stirring every 30 seconds till the chocolate has completed melted.
2. Pour the chocolate mixture into a serving bowl. Serve with fruit.

Tip: Try getting a little more adventurous and romantic by tossing in more variety of fruits 😉

 

Tortelloni Dinner with Cherry Tomato Sauce

Trotelloni and cherry tomato sauce makes for such a nourishing, heart-warming dinner dish!

Ingredients:

• 2 cups Tortelloni
• 2 Tbs extra-virgin olive oil
• 2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
• 1/3 cherry tomatoes, halved
• 1 Tsb White vinegar
•  Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

Method:

Prepare pasta according to package directions.

Heat oil in large skillet over medium-high heat. Add garlic; cook, stirring occasionally, for 30 seconds or until fragrant. Add tomatoes; cook, stirring occasionally, for 3 to 5 minutes or until tomatoes begin to blister. Add vinegar to skillet. Season with salt and pepper; reduce heat to low and keep sauce warm. Add pasta, toss and serve hot.

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Enjoy 🙂

Delicious Berry Blast Breakfast Smoothie!

This little glass of “Berry Goodness” is so easy to make and tastes heavenly! I had it for breakfast today.

Ingredients

• 1 cup coconut milk
• 3/4 cup mixed frozen blueberries and strawberries
• 1 heaping scoop of protein powder

Instructions

Place coconut milk, blueberries, strawberries and shake mix in blender; puree. Serve immediately- it’s that easy!

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Enjoy! 🙂