Protein Quinoa Bowl and Chia Seed Cereal

I've been regularly eating a couple breakfast meals that now rank amongst my favorites since starting to eat a bit healthier.  These are the Protein Quinoa Bowl and Chia Seed Cereal.  They're both Julie Morris recipes, albeit with perhaps a few small modifications here and there.  She rightly calls the Protein Quinoa Bowl the ugly-duckling of breakfast bowls.  That, however, must make the Chia Seed Cereal the fugly-duckling of breakfast bowls.  The unappetizing green color is mostly caused by the Hemp Protein Powder found in both cereals.

Surprisingly enough, they are both delicious and very satisfying.  I like them both a bit before, or after, a good workout, because they are easy to digest and leave you with a light feeling, even though they provide energy for hours.  No doubt, you have probably heard the Chia Seed Cereal mentioned before if you have read some of my other blog posts.  I often take it with me on my trips for an early morning energy source, before a good hike or ride.

First, let's start with the Protein Quinoa Bowl.  This is a hot meal and best during the cooler months.  Like I said above, it doesn't look super appetizing.  But, don't let looks fool you!  If you like the taste of almond butter and maple syrup, topped with a little banana and cinnamon flavor,well you're probably going to like this hot cereal.  Let's start with the ingredients.

• 1 cup Hemp (or Almond) Milk
• ⅓ cup Quinoa Flakes
• 1 heaping tablespoon Almond Butter
• 2 tablespoons Hemp Protein Powder
• 1 tablespoon Maca Powder
• 2 teaspoons to 1 tablespoon of Maple Syrup
• 1 Banana
• Cinnamon Powder

Bring the Hemp Milk to a boil in a medium saucepan.  Then, stir in the Quinoa Flakes and turn off the heat and let sit for about three minutes, allowing the Quinoa to cook through.

Next, add in the remaining ingredients and stir until smooth.  Dish into your favorite bowl and add sliced banana and Cinnamon Powder to your liking.

Next, prepare to be amazed how yummy this ugly-duckling of breakfast bowls can taste.  Don't forget to go for a work-out and feel the endurance!

I should also note that Maca can also provide a bit of energy.  At the same time, it's also a powerful adaptogen, making for a "calming" energy while regulating stress, if that makes any sense.  Incan warriors used to eat Maca before going into battle to increase both strength and stamina during long battles.  However, given it's libido enhancing effects, the women of the tribes demanded the men not be allowed to eat it during times of peace, so they could have some piece and quiet.

Protein Quinoa Bowl

Next up - Chia Seed Cereal.  This is best cold, or even at room temperature, which I actually prefer.  Also, if you need more fiber in your diet this is the cereal for you.  The 3 tablespoons of Chia Seed Cereal contains 15 grams of fiber alone!  Hemp Protein is a fairly rich fiber source, too.  So, it may be best to start out with 2 tablespoons of Chia Seeds and see how you handle it.  Either way, you probably don't need a whole lot of fiber for the rest of the day.  As mentioned, I find the Chia Seed Cereal very easy to digest, despite the fact that other high-fiber meals may be a bit more of a challenge.

In addition, since the Chia Seed absorbs the Hemp Milk and becomes "gelatinous", it's also helps detoxify your system.  I've also read that Chia Seeds can help with extended hydration during exercise, due to this moisture absorbing property.  To be honest, I haven't really noticed a difference here, myself.

Lets start out with the ingredient list again.

• 1 cup Hemp (or Almond) Milk
• 2 to 3 tablespoons of Chia Seed
• 2 teaspoons to 1 tablespoon of Hemp Seed
• 2 tablespoons Hemp Protein Powder
• 1 scoop Amazing Grass Chocolate Infusion Greens Powder
• 1 small handful Goji Berries
• 1 small handful White Turkish Mulberries
• 1 Banana
• Cinnamon Powder

I also like to add dried dragon fruit when we have it around.

Start out by adding everything but the Hemp (or Almond) Milk into a large bowl.

All the Dry Ingredients For Chia Seed Cereal

Then, pour in the Hemp Milk and stir well.  Let this sit for about 15-20 mins.  It doesn't hurt to occasionally stir during this period, but it's not necessary, either.  When ready, give it a final stir and add some banana slices and Cinnamon Powder to your liking and enjoy.

Easy Peasy!

Once again, it doesn't look very appetizing, but I personally think it's pretty yummy.  I gotta admit though, when Rebecca first introduced me to this one, I was a bit frightened to try it.  I think it took a few times to acquire a taste for it, as well.  Who knew it would turn into a fairly regular meal!

Chia Seed Cereal

I'll also sometimes have a small glass of "chocolate" milk with these breakfasts.  It's as simple as adding one scoop of Amazing Grass Chocolate Infusion Greens Powder to an appropriate amount of Hemp (or Almond) Milk.  The powder is made from Cacao, which is an unprocessed, unsweetened and healthier form of "chocolate".  In fact, it is one of the most anti-oxidant rich foods known.  If you need a little more protein you can throw in 1 tablespoon of Hemp Protein, but this does alter the taste quite a bit.

Here's to starting the day off right!  ;-)

Morris, Julie; Superfood Kitchen, Navitas Naturals, 2011

Wolfe, David, Superfoods, North Atlantic Books, 2009

Dynamite Fudge

This is one of my favorite sweet-tooth superfood treats.  I don't know if you ever watched the 70's sitcom called Good Times, with Jimmie Walker and his infamous "Dyno-mite!!" line.  I guarantee when you taste a piece of this dynamite fudge you will have an uncontrollable urge to cry out "dynamite!" just like Jimmie Walker in the video below.  Yes, indeed ... it's that good!!





This fudge hosts several superfood powders, including the anti-oxidant powerhouses Maqui Berry and Cacao.  It also uses Lacuma powder, which is naturally sweet, without any sugar content.  The Mesquite powder also adds an interesting flavor I can't really describe, but fits the name.

This is another one those delicious Julie Morris recipes, which can be found in her book, Superfood Kitchen.

The full list of ingredients goes like this:

• 2 tablespoons Maqui Powder
• 2 tablespoons Maca Powder
• 1 tablespoons Mesquite Powder
• 6 tablespoons Lacuma Powder
• ½ Cacao Powder
• ¼ cup Palm Sugar
• 6 tablespoons Coconut Oil
• ¼ cup Maple Syrup (or Agave Nectar)

The maple syrup and agave nectar both provide distinct flavors to the fudge.  I personally like the maple syrup better, but will sometimes make them with the agave nectar, just to mix it up now and then. Either way, the outcome is ... dynamite!

Put all those ingredients in a food processor and mix until they're combined well.  Check the consistency and try adding a little more coconut oil, if it seems too dry.  Once everything seems good, pour the mixture onto some plastic wrap and mold the fudge into a 1-inch high square/rectangular shape.  Fold it up and place in the refrigerator for about an hour, to let it solidify more.  Then, take it out and ...

Enjoy!

With  ¼ cup Palm Sugar and ¼ Maple Syrup, you do want to eat these sparingly to keep it healthy.  Everything in moderation, right?

At least that's what I told myself right before eating half the batch of fudge I made!

Vegan Tacos, Chia-Seed Gaucamole, Salsa, and Vegan Margaritas, Huh?!

Well, I'm currently down and out with the ankle again, so Rebecca and I took a weekend off from the Sierra.  We realized how long it's been since we had fun cooking a meal together, so it started to sound pretty good the more we thought about it.  We decided on these Vegan tacos we had a little ways back.  What makes them Vegan, you ask?  Instead of beef, they have a "meat" made of lentils and walnuts.  Those Vegans are sneaky, I tell you.  We also made some Chia seed guacamole and a fresh, homemade salsa.  Now, I don't know if Jose Cuervo is technically considered Vegan, but the rest of the ingredients in some yummy whole-citrus-fruit Margaritas we made would classify.

The salsa was pretty easy.  We had several types of fresh tomatoes: orange, yellow, and red heirlooms.  The only other ingredients were cilantro, red onions, black pepper and a bit of lime juice.   We just kind of put them together in whatever proportions looked tasty.

There really wasn't much different about the guacamole than your standard kind, other than the Chia seeds, which add a little superfood kick.  Chia seeds are a great fiber/protein source and high in Omega 3s.  They're also real easy to digest and are detoxifying, which is good since Jose Cuervo was hang'n with us that night.

The recipe comes from Julie Morris on Navitas Naturals.

First, put these in a small glass container and let the Chia seeds soak up the juice for 10-15 mins.  Julie says to put it all in a food processor, but we found just chopping up the tomato worked better for us.  Just make sure to get the tomato juice in the container too.

• 2 Tbsp Chia Seeds
• 1 Very Large Tomato
• 2 Tbsp fresh lime juice

While you're waiting for that, go ahead and get the rest of the ingredients out:

• 1 Large Avocado
• 1 tsp Garlic Powder
• ¼ tsp Onion Powder
• ¼ cup Red Onion (Julie calls for White, but we like the Red)
• 2 Tbsp Cilantro
• Pinch of Salt

Mash the avocado up with a fork in a bowl of the proper serving size and mix in the remaining ingredients.  Once the 10-15 minutes is up, add in as much of the tomato/chia mix as you want.  We always end up with some extra.

These tacos are a lot easier to make than I might have expected.  It's really all about the "meat", but that only has a few ingredients.  Rebecca got the recipe from Oh She Glows.

• 1 cup dry lentils
• 3 cups veggie broth
• 1 ⅓ cup walnut halves, toasted
• 1 cup bean medley (we used black beans and pinto beans)
• Taco Seasoning

You just have to cook the lentils in the veggie broth for 30-40 minutes.  A little less broth than the recipe calls for might be good.  We just "toasted" the walnuts in a pan.  Once the lentils are done, combine everything in a food processor and lightly process with small pulses adding a teaspoon of taco seasoning at a time, until it tastes right.  Don't over process, because a little texture makes it seem "meatier".

Here's what we used for the taco seasoning.

• 4 parts chili powder
• 2 parts cumin
• 1 part paprika
• 1 part oregano
• 1 part onion powder
• 1 part garlic powder
• 1 part salt
• ½ part black pepper

Then, it's just a matter of some fresh lettuce, tomato, onions, avocado and some vegan, or as I like to call it, stinky cheese.

We experimented around and had a couple different kinds of Margaritas, but the one that turned out best went something like this.

• 1 Whole Lemon
• 1 Whole Cara Cara Orange
• 1 Whole Lime
• 2 oz Triple Sec
• 4 oz Jose Cuervo Silver Tequila
• Maybe 2 cups of Ice 

Just put the whole fruits (peeled, of course) in a blender with the triple sec, tequila and ice - blend till smooth and enjoy!

With these, I had fun trying out the color-accent feature on the Canon G15 (our new camera).  You basically pick a color in the scene and then tell the camera how much it should bleed out other colors.  Makes some neat looking photos.

Vanilla Almond Smoothie

If you like almond butter, you're going to love this one!  If you haven't had almond butter, but like peanut butter, you've gotta try it.  I personally think almond butter tastes much better than peanut butter.  Cashew butter might even be better than the almond butter, but the taste wouldn't be quite right for this particular drink.  Almond Butter is also more nutritious than peanut butter, being richer in things like Omega 3s, Vitamin E, Magnesium, and it's also higher in fiber.  Magnesium seems to be getting more and more attention, as new studies are finding it to be an important mineral that many people don't get enough of.

I've been wanting to make this smoothie for a while now, but one of the ingredients - Mulberries- was making it hard.  Mulberries are a precious commodity around here.  We love the white Turkish Mulberries, which this recipe calls for, and they are quite delicious.  They come in a small bag and it seems like every time I wanted to make this smoothie, either we were out of Mulberries, or so little was left, I felt guilty using them all up in one drink.  The last time I went to make this smoothie, we had a ton of Mulberries, but absolutely no Almond Butter, which is very rare.

Last week, we had all the ingredients and I actually had the time to relax and make it, so everything all came together.  We weren't disappointed either.  It was as delicious as expected.

The recipe comes from Superfood Smoothies by Julie Morris.

• ⅓ cup dried white Mulberries 
• 2 tablespoons dried Goji Berries
• 2 tablespoons Hemp Protein powder
• 1 tablespoons Lacuma Powder
• 3 tablespoons Almond Butter
• 2 teaspoons Vanilla extract
• ½ Camu Camu powder
• 1 ½ cups coconut water
•  2 cups ice
• sweetener, to taste (optional)

Directions say to blend all the ingredients, except ice, until smooth.  Then blend in the ice, until frosty.  I missed the two-step thing there and blended it all together, but it worked out just fine, as far as I could tell.

I used three heaping tablespoons of Almond Butter, making it probably more like 4 level tablespoons.  I didn't think it was too much, but it was close!

I can't recall if I actually used any optional sweetener, but I don't think I did, so it probably doesn't really need any.  The Mulberries are already pretty sweet and the Lacuma helps too.  Plus, Julie Morris says she didn't really feel the need to sweeten it up and that girl seems to have quite the sweet tooth!  But, if it isn't quite there for you, a few drops of stevia would be a healthy way to sweeten it up more.

Between the Goji Berries, Camu, Hemp protein, Mulberries and even the Almond Butter, this drink packs quite a healthy punch!  Although, 4 tablespoons of Almond Butter, may be a bit excessive ;-)

Enjoy!

Black Bean & Roasted Sweet Potato Burger with Mayan Chocolate Drink

Rebecca and I were in the mood for something Mexican, so we put our heads to gether and tried to figrue out what to make.  Seemed like for every recipe we thought of, we were short one ingredient.  Finally, we remembered a vegan burger recipe from Kris Carr's "Crazy, Sexy Kitchen" book.  It was the Black Bean and Roasted Sweet Potato Burger.

We're not really vegan, but we do like many of the recipes and have been trying to focus on having a more plant-based, alkaline diet.  The other night Rebecca made a vegan Mac and Cheese dish and then threw some chicken on it for me.  So, kinda vegan, kinda not.

Those vegans are tricky, though, I tell you.  Mac and Cheese, without cheese.  Taco meat, without meat.  All these healthy substitutes that are delicious and don't taste a whole lot different than the real thing.

To top this meal off, we also made the Mayan Chocolate Drink from Julie Morris' Superfood Smoothies.  Overall, not a Mexican meal, but it was an interesting combo, with some kind of "southwestern" feel to it.

First thing we had to do was get the toppings ready.

We also decided to make a mix of potato and beet chips for a side dish.  Beets are so crazy looking some times.

Then the rest of these ingredients needed to be prepared and processed to make the burger "meat".

• 1 sweet potato, peeled and cut into 1-inch chunks (about 1 cup)
• 2 tablespoons coconut oil
• ½ cup finely diced onion
• 2 cups cooked black beans
• 1 cup cooked brown rice
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• ½ tablespoon ground cumin
• 1 teaspoon chili powder
• ½ teaspoon salt
• 3 tablespoons Tamari
• 2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce (vegan, if preferred)
• 2 tablespoons bread crumbs

Just need to cook the rice, roast the sweet potatos until tender and combine everything in a food processor.  Don't overprocess!  Then, shape the meat into patties, place them into a skillet and cook until both sides are lightly browned.

Of course, we were still missing one ingredient.  Hamburger buns!  But, we have a bread that works pretty well when toasted, so we used that.

Here's the final product with the beet/potato chips on the side.  I'm gonna have to say the burger itself looked much yummier in person.

Lastly, the Mayan Chocolate drink. This guy is really easy to make.  Just combine the following ingredients into a blender and blend until smooth.

• ¼ cup Medjool dates, about 3-4
• 2 tablespoons almond butter
• 3 tablespoons cacao nibs
• 1 tablespoon cacao powder
• 1 tablespoons Chia seed
• ¼ teaspoon cayenne powder
• ¼ teaspoon cinnamon powder
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 ⅓ cups water

Then, mix in 2 cups of ice and blend until frosty.  This makes for a chilled chocolaty treat, with a spicy, exotic zeal.

Mayan Chocolate Drink

Chai Smoothie

Julie Morris recently came out with her new book Superfood Smoothies and it looks to contain a lot of really good mixes.  I pre-ordered the book for Rebecca as a gift a ways back, since I figured she would love a copy.  After looking through it, several recipes caught my eye too.  This one is the Chai smoothie and it was delicious! 

Rebecca and I made this one together yesterday.  First thing we had to do was grind the Cardamom Seeds into a powder.  You can buy this in powdered form, but we happened to be all out, hence the grinding.  It was kind of fun doing it anyhow!

Getting Ready To Grind The Cardamon Seeds

These guys are spicy little suckers!  Their spiciness even wafts up into your nose while grinding them.

Grind, Grind, Grind ... Grinding the Cardamom Seeds

Combine all of the following ingredients and mix until smooth.

• 3 tablespoons raw cashews
• 2 tablespoons hemp seeds
• 2 large Medjool dates, pitted
• 2 tablespoons cacao nibs
• 1 tablespoon chia seeds
• 2 teaspoons maca powder
• ¼ teaspoon chlorella, or wheatgrass, powder
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon powder
• 1 teaspoon ginger powder
• ¼ teaspoon cardamom powder
• 2 cups coconut powder

Then, when you're ready add in:

• 1 frozen banana
• 1 ½ cups ice
• stevia, to taste (optional)

and mix until frosty.

Get ready to enjoy a nice frosty smoothy with the warm spicy flavor of chai!

Chai Smoothie

I think this one might be one of my new favorite drinks.  It really hit the spot.  With the chia seeds, hemp seeds, cacao, maca and wheatgrass, it's quite the healthy mix too.

Chai Smoothie

Purple Punch Antioxidant Elixir

I've been loving the Acai and Maqui Berry recipes we've been making lately, like the Breakfast Bowl I already wrote a blog entry on, so I thought let's try and make a little something of my own using these guys.  I wanted to make an anti-oxidant, free-radical butt-kicking, powerhouse of a beverage.  Given the reputed age-defying properties of many antioxidant containing fruits and considering how many I squeezed into this one beverage, I decided it was more fitting to call it an Elixir.  ;-)

e·lix·ir

[ih-lik-ser] noun

Also called elixir of life. an alchemical preparation formerly believed to be capable of prolonging life. 

Purple Punch Antioxidant Elixir

The official name is the Purple Punch Antioxidant Elixir.  (Although, admittedly, it is very smoothie-like in its consistency and flavor) 

As mentioned, I figured why go for just the Acai and Maqui Berry, so I tried adding in a few other fruits that seemed like they would all go well together, like Blueberries, Mulberries and Pomegranate.  Here's the ingredient line-up:

• 1 frozen Banana
• 1 cup frozen Blueberries
• 1 cup Chia Gel
• ¼ cup Mulberries (½ cup is even better!)
• 2 tbsp Acai Powder
• 1 tbsp Maqui Powder
• 1 tbsp Pomegranate Powder
• 2 cup Coconut Water
• 1 tsp Coconut Palm Sugar (optional)
• 2 Dr. Mercola Purple Defense Capsules (Just pry apart capsules and add in powder)

To make the Chia gel, just had ¼ cup Chia Seed to 1 cup of Coconut Water.  Let it sit for 20 mins, stirring occasionally, while the Chia Seeds absorb the liquid.  It looks a little gross when it's done, but it gives the drink a nice consistency and a refreshing zeal to it, in my opinion.  That, and Chia Seed is good for you!

The Dr. Mercola Purple Defense is a Resveratrol supplement.  Each capsule contains as much Resveratrol as 39 glasses of wine.  Resveratrol seems to get the anti-aging reputation more so than most other antioxidants, which might be because it seems to have the most scientific research backing up that claim.

Mulberries, on top of being delicious, are also pretty high in Resveratrol.

Also, an exciting piece of news for the Thomas household - we have a new blender!  Yep, doesn't take much to get us excited around here, I guess.  We got a new Professional Series Vitamix and it's pretty nice.  Self-cleaning and could probably blend granite, if we put some in there.

Our Fancy New Vitamix Blender

Throw all the ingredients above into your blender and go!  You should end up with a purply looking concoction that amounts to about 2 servings.

I haven't tried yet, but this might also go well with a full tablespoon of the Pomegranate powder, without getting too tangy.  Also, 2 tablespoons of Maqui would probably taste awfully good, but I stuck with 1 tablespoon because the Maqui Berry powder is pretty expensive.

Rebecca helped me with these pictures again.  You can probably guess which one I took, right?  Yes, it was the blender one.  Although, I think I'm on to her secrets now and can probably learn something and start taking my own. 

Purple Punch Antioxidant Elixir

Purple Punch Antioxidant Elixir

Chocolate Energy Bars

While gnawing on my 1,529,423^rd Cliff Bar during my most recent hike, I had the strange desire to try something new.  Cliff Bars aren't really bad for you, but they are pretty high in sugar and I also knew I could totally kick the nutrition content up a notch, or two, with a home-made energy bar.   I was thinking of trying my own recipe, but I thought for the first go-around I should try an established one from somebody else.  I like to think I'm adventurous, but wasting a huge batch of atrociously expensive superfoods due to incompetency is where I just have to draw the line.  Thankfully, Julie Morris had a great recipe - her Chocolate Energy Bars - so, I went with those.

Chocolate Energy Bars

I threw in the extra/suggested ingredient Hemp Protein powder to kick up the protein content. I also threw in a few extra ingredients (Wheatgrass, Spirulina and the Amazing Grass powder) to make this a powerful "green" food too. Score (Me, 1; Cliff Bars, 0)

The Amazing Grass products are pretty .... amazing.  They contain quite the mix of nutritious foods and most also have a probiotic and digestive enzyme blend included, as well.  I've been having a small chocolate drink in the morning with the powder also used in this energy bar.  Also, we've been mixing their Raw Reserve (25 Billion CFU greens powder) into a drink, or two. 

Overall, these bars taste better than a Cliff Bar and less sweet, at the same time.  Score (Me, 2; Cliff Bars, 0)

However, for them to have that nice soft, gooey homemade texture, seems like they need to be consumed within a couple weeks, or frozen. This puts the final score at (Me, 2; Cliff Bars, 1), with ME being the clear winner of this obviously scientific rating system.

Alrighty then, so here is the ingredient line-up:

• 1 ½ cups soft Medjool Dates (about 15, or 16) pits removed
• ¼ cup raw Almonds
• ¼ cup raw Cashews
• ¼ cup raw Cacao powder
• 3 tablespoons Cacao nibs
• 6 tablespoons Hemp Seeds
• 1 tablespoon Chia Seeds
• 1 tablespoon Maca powder
• 1 teaspoon Mesquite powder
• 1 tablespoon Hemp Protein powder
• 1 teaspoon Wheatgrass powder
• 1 teaspoon Spirulina powder
• 1 scoop Amazing Grass Chocolate Greens Powder

Throw all those guys into a food processor and mix until a coarse dough has formed. Mine turned out a little dry, most likely from the added ingredients, so I had to add some extra water to get the dough a little gooier. Add in about 1/2 teaspoon at a time, if you have the same problem.  Don't add in more than that each time, as it's really easy to go over and end up with a concrete ball in your food-processor

Next, pulse in the following ingredients. Pulsed in, so that they stay a little chunky in there, so don't grind it too long with these, just enough to mix them in well.  I personally found getting these guys mixed evenly a little tricky.

• 2 tablespoons favorite raw nuts/seeds (I used sunflower and pumpkin seeds)
• ¼ cup dried favorite dried fruit (I used Goji Berries)

Voila, now throw them in your backpack and go for a hike, climb, bicycle ride, or whatever it is that gets you outside!

Chocolate Energy Bars

Rebecca also made a delicious batch of these recently.  Check it out, here

Acai/Maqui Berry Bowl with Incan Warrior Energy Drink

One thing I have been enjoying about this new superfood trend Rebecca and I are on is all the new exotic foods to try, many of which I have never heard of before, like the Sacha Inchi seeds and Maca Powder that I already talked about in earlier blogs. They're always from faraway places like the Himalayan region for Goji Berries, or some high-altitude region in South America for Maca and, so on. 

This blog will cover a breakfast with two exotic fruits I also hadn’t heard of before: the Acai Berry and the Maqui Berry, as well as a drink with a real energy-kick! 

Acai and Maqui Berry Bowl

The Acai (Pronounced like Ahhhh-Sighhh-eeeeee) and Maqui berry both have a somewhat similar appearance to the blueberry and I think if you enjoy those, you’re going to love Acai and Maqui Berries. Although, they do both have their own characteristic flavor.

Both of these berries are antioxidant powerhouses, with a one-two knockout punch for any free radicals that dare cross paths with them.  Blueberries, which everybody knows are high in antioxidants, come in with an ORAC (Oxygen Radical Absorbance Capacity) score of 7000 per 100g. Acai comes in with a score of around 42,000 and Maqui Berries, which are the highest antioxidant containing fruit in the world, comes in with a score of 92,000.  Before you get too excited though, the ORAC scale is measured in vitro and has been dropped by the USDA for “insufficient evidence of biological significance”. Regardless, I don’t think a nutrient dense fruit could be a bad thing, could it?

This breakfast bowl is a pretty light breakfast, which I can’t eat every day, despite now being one of my favorites. I need something with a bit more protein on a daily basis. But, it really is delicious. It’s almost has a fruity ice cream like appeal to it, but it is very low in sugar.

It's a very slight modification to the Acai Bowl in Superfood Kitchen by Julie Morris.

Here are the ingredients:

• 1 frozen banana
• 1 Tbsp Acai Powder
• 1 Tbsp Maqui Powder
• ¼ cup milk of choice (I used almond or hemp milk)
• A bit of stevia for sweetness

Throw those guys into a food processor and mix.  Easy, Peasy!  I'll also sometimes throw some extra bananas and granola on top, along with some frozen blueberries.

I’ve also thrown in some Psyllium Husk for extra fiber and Maca powder for an energy kick, but I find the flavor is never quite as good with these guys included. Simple seems best, with this one.

I never thought I was the best photographer, but I guess I do okay in the outdoors.  Take 300 pictures per trip and you're bound to get something good, right?  But, this food photography is a bit more challenging.  For one, when the food is done, I just want to eat while the eat'n is good, ya know?  Then, the indoor lighting is always a challenge.  I also don't really have the patience for the setup to make the pictures look all nice, either.  I'm trying, though.

In the meantime, Rebecca helped me with these.  She's like a pro.  The first one with the Incan Warrior Energy Drink is my photo, which is clearly the least visually desirable .  The next two photos, which are much nicer, Rebecca took of another Acai-Maqui Berry bowl I made.  The last photo is of an Acai bowl (no Maqui here) Rebecca made a ways back.  Notice the color difference between the pure Acai bowl and the ones with Maqui Berry.  Maqui Berries have a deep purple pigment!

The recipe for the Incan Warrior Energy Drink is down below.

Acai and Maqui Berry Bowl with the Incan Warrior Energy Drink

Acai-Maqui Berry Bowl

Acai-Maqui Berry Bowl

Rebecca’s Acai Bowl

Incan Warrior Energy Drink

This drink would make a great coffee alternative. It sort of tastes like a dark chocolate latte, or something similar. Also, I think the Yerba Mate could be replaced with a caffeine-free alternative. I personally don’t do well with caffeine, so I plan on trying this again with Organic India’s Goto Kola Tulsi Tea, but I think any dark roasted, or earthy tea, would go well in this drink. The cacao and maca should provide plenty of energy without the caffeine, anyhow.

Also, for comparison with the fruits above, cacao comes in at 95,000 on the ORAC scale. Yikes! 

Ingredients:

2 Tbsp Cacao

1 Tbsp Maca Powder
1 Tbsp Yacon, or Agave, Syrup
1 Scoop Amazing Grass Chocolate Powder, or something similar

1 Cup Milk of Choice (I used hemp milk)

1 Cup brewed Yerba Mate

Simply combine ingredients in a blender and have at it.  If you don't get an energy kick from this guy, something is wrong  ;-)

UPDATE:  I recently made this with 1 Cup Peppermint Tulsi tea and 1/4 tsp Peppermint Extract, in place of the Yerba Mate.  This a delicious caffeine free alternative!

This recipe came from Navitas Naturals: Incan Warrior Smoothie 

Ingredient Highlight - Maqui Berry!
The Maqui Berry is a staple of the Mapuche Indians in Chile.  Is it a coincidence that the Mapuche Indians are some of the longest-living people in the world?  Perhaps ;-)  As I mentioned above already, Maqui Berries are the highest known antioxidant rich fruit in the world, at 92,000 ORAC pts per 100g.  The Maqui Berry is particularly strong in two antioxidants of the flavonoid variety - polyphenols and anthocyanins.  Studies indicate these help repair and protect DNA.  Additionally, studies show that anthocyanins are beneficial when it comes to anti-aging effects, since it helps to reduce oxidative stress, as well as improve brain function.  Maqui Berries are also rich in Vitamin C, minerals and help to fight inflammation.   Did I mention they are delicious too!**

**Julie Morris, Superfood Kitchen

The Lean, Mean, Green Smoothie

I keep hearing about how healthy green juices and green smoothies are supposed to be, so I figured I should try a few. Also, Rebecca has been making a yummy green smoothie for breakfast that I tried on several occasions. I recently came across one called “Workout Recovery Smoothie” on the Navitas Naturals web page, so I started making that one not too long ago for myself.   I even used it to recover after a workout, or two - imagine that!

Since then, I’ve modified some of the ingredient amounts and added in quite a few too. So, maybe I earned the right to rename it and call it my own recipe? Well, probably not, but … I call it the Lean, Mean, Green Smoothie, and it’s quite possibly the greenest smoothie on the planet.

Here’s the impressive lineup of ingredients. Kitchen counter space can be one of the main challenges to making this one.  Believe it, or not, an ingredient (Hemp Protein Powder) was missing because we were all out: 

First thing you gotta do is start soaking the Goji berries, unless you actually have fresh ones, but most folks typically get them dehydrated.  You can see mine soaking in the image above, with the big jar of dehydrated berries right behind.

Add a medium-size handful of Goji berries to 1 2/3 cup of coconut water. Let them soak for about 10-15 minutes, or until they start to soften. See if you can solve the mystery as to why some float and why some sink. 

While that’s going on, you can start getting the rest of the ingredients out, as follows:

• 1 frozen banana (sliced into small slices – before freezing!)
• ¼ cup, or less, of Walnuts (too many will give it an unpleasantly smooth consistency. Trust me! I learned that the hard way!)
• 1 Tbsp Hemp Protein Powder
• 2 Tbsp Hemp Seeds
• 1 tsp Chia Seeds
• 1 Tbsp Maca Powder
• 1 Tbsp Organic India Psyllium Husk (6 grams of fiber, right there)
• 1 scoop Amazing Grass Chocolate (or Green) Super Food Powder
• 1 tsp Wheatgrass Powder
• 2 tsp Spirulina (or 1 tsp, if you don’t like the taste of Spirulina as much as I do)
• 1 tsp Noni Fruit Powder
• 1 handful Kale
• 1 handful Spinach
• Stevia for sweetness, although I find it usually doesn’t need it. 

(Stevia is a great sweetener because it’s a herb and doesn’t have the negative health consequences sugar does. The taste doesn’t agree with some folks, though.)

Note: make sure the Kale is organic! It’s one of the most nutrient dense green leafy guys you can eat, but it’s also on the Dirty Dozen list, which means non-organic grocery-store-bought Kale is also likely to be covered in the most pesticides.

Once the Goji Berries are good to go, combine everything in a blender and go. 

Here’s all the ingredients in our lean, mean, green (errr, red) smoothie machine … a.k.a, a cheap-ass Black And Decker, but, hey, it gets the job done (most of the time …)

Who’s got a Vitamix they want to trade with us?

Add in more coconut water, or even plain water if you want to thin it out a bit. Ice cubes are another option if you want it a bit “chilled”. Yet another option is to use Water Kefir instead of the coconut water, making this a potent probiotic drink too!

Anyhow, you should end up with a very green-looking concoction like the one below. Doesn't it look yummy? Hard to say sometimes, but it sure tastes yummy.

The Lean, Mean, Green Smoothie

Doesn’t get any greener than that!

Would you like some smoothie in your chlorophyll?

If you’re new to green smoothies, I’d probably recommend starting with the Navitas Naturals recipe and see how you like that one first. It’s really good, too. As a matter of fact, Rebecca prefers that one over this recipe.

Enjoy!

Ingredient Highlight: Spirulina!

Spirulina is a blue-green algae that has been living on the planet since the appearance of life.  The green color is derived from chlorophyll. The blue color is derived from the potent phytopigment phycocyanin (I have no idea how to pronounce that either!).  Phycocyanin appears only in Spirulina.  Being one of the simplest and earliest lifeforms it has a long history of developing and sustaining the food chain, providing the fundamental nutrient and food sources for life.  Spirulina is 65-71% protein by weight.  And, it is a complete protein source, containing all eight essential amino acids, and eighteen amino acids in total.  (An essential amino acid is one your body cannot make and can only get from diet)  Is rich in vitamins A, B1, B2, B6, E and K.  It also contains many phytonutrients, caretenoids, Essential Fatty Acids (EFAs) and minerals like Iron, Magnesium, Selenium and Zinc.  Research indicates that Spirulina helps support the immune system, helps support and maintain blood pressure, assists in heavy metal detoxification, helps support optimal gastrointestinal flora and more.  It's quite the superfood! **

**Superfoods by David Wolfe, Dr. Mercola (www.mercola.com)

Sacha Inchi Buckeyes

The only thing better than eating this delicious superfood treat is its name.  Sacha Inchi!!  It's a very rich and sweet dessert.  It's the kind of treat where you need to just eat one, muster up all the will power you can, and walk away.  Any more than that and the superfood benefits would probably get outweighed by the sugar intake.

This was our first time ever trying Sacha Inchi seeds and they have a very characteristic flavor that I can't describe.  Rebecca tried and ended up saying it was a cross between like 5 different things and I had no idea what she was talking about.  The flavor changes and builds up while you're chewing on them, and even more so in the form of this dessert.

The recipe is from Julie Morris' book called Superfood Kitchen.  Well, we have an older version called Superfood Cuisine, but I'm sure this is in the new edition too.

First, you gotta make the chocolate:

• ½ cup solid cacao butter, chopped into shavings
• 5 tablespoons cacao powder
• 2 tablespoons agave nectar

There is no sugar in cacao, so the agave nector adds some sweetness.  You use a double-boil method to melt the cacao butter and then whisk in the cacao powder and agave nectar.  You have to keep it liquified for the next part.

•  ½ cup Sacha Inchi Seeds
• 6 tablespoons Coconut Palm Sugar
• ⅔ cup soft Medjool Dates (about 6-7)
• 4 tablespoons almond butter
• 2 tablespoons Lacuma powder
•  ½ teaspoon vanilla extract

You mix those ingredients in a food processor, adding water as necessary to get a sticky dough.  Add only a tiny bit of water at a time, or you will end up with a ball of cement.  Trust me!  I learned that one the hard way.  Next, roll the dough into tiny balls.  After those chill in the freezer for 20-30 minutes, take them out and dip them in the chocolate.  Giving you a few treats looking like the following:

Ingredient Highlight:  Sacha Inchi!
Sacha Inchi is a seed, despite it's large size and nutty appearance.  It has been enjoyed since pre-Incan eras, from which ceramics have been recovered with evidence of Sacha Inchi.  What I didn't know is that Sacha Inchi seeds are the highest known source of healthy plant-based Omega-3s.  Surprisingly, it has more Omega-3s than salmon - 13 times more, ounce for ounce.  Although containing less than Cacao, it's a decent source of the good-mood amino acid Tryptophan, making for a potentially mood altering treat when the two are combined! It's also rich in vitamins and minerals, including Iodine, which seems to be getting some attention, as of lately. **

Enjoy!!

** Julie Morris, Superfood Kitchen

Mexican Chocolate Maca Bark

Mexican food has always been my favorite.  Enchiladas, chimichangas, burritos, soft tacos, you name it.  I typically can't get enough!  But, until recently, I have never tried any Mexican style desserts.  My new superfood hobby has had me making quite a few delicious treats lately.  While looking for some new ones to make on Navitas Naturals, the Mexican Chocolate Maca Bark caught my eye.  I knew I liked some of the ingredients: cacao and maca.  Who couldn't like those?  But, the combination of Cinnamon and Cayenne pepper had me intrigued.  It wasn't hard to make either.  The only tricky part, which was only tricky because it was my first time, was using a double boil method to melt the cacao paste shavings.  Basically, you've got one smaller pot floating within a larger pot of boiling water.  You've got to constantly stir the cacao shavings as they melt, while simultaneously not spill boiling water on yourself. Thankfully, no trips to the emergency room were needed and we ended up with this spicy, exotic desert.

Ingredient Highlight:  Maca!
Maca is a radish-like root that is indigenous to the Peruvian Andes.  It has been used medicinally for thousands of years.  The Quechua people, descendents of the Incans, continue to grow this food at it's natural altitude of around 10,000 feet, but Maca has been known to grow as high as 14,000 feet, making it one of the highest altitude crops on Earth and a sturdy survivor, given the harsh environment.  Maca is one of a rare class of plants called adaptogens.  Adaptogens helps the body 'adapt' and adjust to stress and helps stabilize the endocrine, nervous and cardiovascular systems.  It's a great stamina booster, while being "calming" at the same time. This is probably why Incan warriors consumed large amounts of Maca before battle.  However, since Maca is also known to boost the sex drive, they were prohibited from eating it when they got back home, so the village women could have some peace!  Maca also contains around 60 phytonutrients and, although not a complete protein source, it is 10% protein by weight and contains twenty amino acids, including 7 essential amino acids.  It is also abundant in minerals, like calcium and magnesium, as well as many others, and rich in vitamins B1, B2, C and E. **

Here's the recipe, which is a Julie Morris original:

½ tsp ground Cinnamon Powder
¼ tsp ground Cayenne
⅔ Cup Navitas Naturals Cacao Liquor/Paste
2 Tbsp Navitas Naturals Maca Gelatinized Powder
4 Tbsp Navitas Naturals Coconut Palm Sugar

Instructions for preparation can be found here:

http://navitasnaturals.com/recipes/9482/Mexican-Chocolate-Maca-Bark.html

** Superfood Cuisine by Julie Morris; Superfoods by David Wolfe