Dairy-Free Blueberry Smoothie

This is a breakfast I have when I am in a hurry to get out the door. At first almond milk tasted a little strange to me but now I find the smoothie really tasty. Make sure to read the ingredients of your almond milk, as a lot of brands have really high sugar content... sneaky, right?

The recipe below makes one cup of smoothie. I pour all the ingredients into the measuring cup that came with the Braun Stick Blender set. It's my most used kitchen appliance.

Ingredients

Frozen Blueberries - just under 1/2 a cup

Oats = three tablespoons

Flaked Almonds - three tablespoons

Almond Milk - to fill cup to 250ml

Honey - one teaspoon

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Method

Put all the ingredients into your blender and whiz. Done!

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If you like your smoothies with a thicker texture, just add some more oats and/or almonds.

Oats do have gluten in them, a type of gluten called Avenin that most people with Coeliac can tolerate but if you're in doubt just swap the oats out for more almonds. 

This one I make is dairy-free, the oats are good source of fiber and the almonds add protein. 

Finding Your Zen, and other things you can say now that you are a Yogi Bear.

Every one can have the best intentions when it comes to exercising. However, when push comes to shove, and you were up late and its raining and you don't have enough time to make it to the gym, it can easily fall by the wayside. 

I recently came across this site. It has so many yoga videos that are completely free to stream on your computer. All you need is a couple of square metres, maybe a candle or two (preferably placed out of your range of motion) and you've got yourself a free private lesson. It has classes for every level from geriatric to contortionist, so not to fret if you've never done yoga before.  

Practicing yoga can decrease stress, release muscle tension, improve circulation and digestion, increase strength and flexibility, and open you up to a multitude of new catchphrases. See below.

So people, find your zen... FIND YOUR ZEN!

In You

Comedowhat?

I have quite an obsession with skin. I am insanely jealous of anyone with smooth, clear skin a la natasha poly, as pictured. I'm not even a jealous person. 

Having suffered from mild acne from the age of 12 I've tried a lot of products and medications to try and attain that elusive, velvety, glowing, epidermis. 

The past year I have been more focused on health than ever before and basically found my extremely-frustratingly-persistent-but-admittedly-mild acne may just be due to the products that I was using to try and get rid of it. So many ingredients found in your well known beauty brand products are comedogenic. That means pore clogging. So hold up on slathering your face with whatever you usually do and check out the link below

http://www.zerozits.com/Articles/acnedetect.htm#inglist

The page rates ingredients by level of irritants and also by how comedogenic it is. They recommend that if you have acne prone skin, you shouldn't use anything with a rating higher than three or more.

I've been trying to  stick to very gentle, mainly all natural or organic products and oil free makeup for quite a few months now, my skin has definitely calmed down and I'm trying out a more alkaline diet to do the rest of the job.

So, I hope this saves you some time in researching the ingredients of your future cosmetic purchases. I certainly could have used it while emptying out my bathroom cupboard a few months ago. 

Avocadeggs/Eggocados

I love this idea! I'm going to give it a go tomorrow morning. 

It's from the folder in my photos called 'ohm nom nom'. I peruse said folder when I feel like eating cookie dough and it changes my mind 99% of the time. Real food just looks so much better than junk food, not to mention it actually nourishes your body. 

I just found the picture online so I'm not sure what the method is. I'm just going to poach the eggs and hollow out the avocado a little more, add a lil' salt and pepper and I think we'll have a winner. 

Pseudo Spaghetti

I am a lover of pasta. At any given time, at any given restaurant, I will order the pasta. This has proved to be a bit of a problem for my stomach, which generally objects to starchy carbs after about 1 pm (I think this is psychosomatic). Cue my pseudo spaghetti, the recipe follows...

To serve two:

Two large zucchinis (use 3 medium or four small) - I use a turning slicer but initially used a vegetable peeler which created more fettucini like strips, if you are into this pasta alternative, I recommend getting a less loathsome appliance than ye olde knuckle shucking vegetable peeler. Try to get relatively straight zucchinis, trust me, it makes life easier.

One small brown onion - chopped finely

One carrot - grated very finely

One garlic clove - chopped or crushed

Pasta sauce - I'm lazy, I'm using the bottled stuff. I use Spiral Foods Organic Garlic and Basil Sauce.

Some basil

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Method

I sauté the onions and garlic in coconut oil to begin, the onions should just turn translucent, not brown.

Then I add half a jar of pasta sauce and leave to heat up while I begin making magic with the slicer.

I slice and dice the zucchini into strips and pour a liberal amount of salt over the top and toss it about.

Then I add the carrot to the sauce and any pieces of zucchini that didn't make the cut to become fake pasta.

I let this bubble for a little bit while either blanching the zucchini in hot water or just running it under the hot tap, nothing in here requires it to be cooked long at all, to be honest I usually just chuck the zucchini noodles into the sauce and start stirring so they absorb the flavour.

Final thing is to add some shredded basil and stir again.

Ready to be served.

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This takes next to no time to make also is delicious the next day, I don't know what happens after that as it has never lasted more than 24 hours without being eaten by someone! The great thing about it is that it has the texture of skillfully cooked al dente pasta and soaks up the sauce so well that you hardly taste the difference. The BEST thing however is that it is extremely low calorie, coming in around 150 calories per serving (according to the myfitnesspal app).

It's safe to say regular pasta is a thing of the past(a) in my kitchen...