Blog | Nourished Roots

Watermelon Cooler

June 6, 2014

Watermelon Cooler.

In my family, summertime was watermelon time. Almost every night after dinner, my mom would shoo us outside with a bowl of giant watermelon slices to munch on. Now, every year as watermelons start to line the shelves of my grocery store, I feel a longing for those long, sweaty summer days of catching frogs, playing hiding-go-seek and turning brown as a bear from all the hours at the swimming pool.

Watermelon Cooler Ingredients

As a child, I only knew how good watermelon tasted. I had no idea it was also good for my body. At over 90% water, watermelon is an excellent source of hydration. (See the importance of hydration here.) Recently, watermelon has been recognized as an excellent source of lycopene, a phytonutrient that’s important for our cardiovascular and bone health. Watermelon is a rich source of L-citrulline an amino acid which helps open up veins and arteries to improve blood flow and reduce blood pressure. L-citrolline has also shown promise in helping to reduce muscle soreness after a hard workout. With its low calorie content, watermelon is an excellent source of Vitamin C, copper and pantothenic acid. With all these amazing health benefits, watermelon should definitely be a part of your diet.

Muddling the lime, sugar and mint.

While I still love to eat watermelon off the rind, I thought it would be fun to try to find a way to drink my watermelon. The following recipe is an adaptation of a traditional Aqua Fresca used in Mexico for hydration.

A pitcher of hydrating watermelon coolers.

Watermelon Cooler

Ingredients

3 cups sliced watermelon
3/4 cup of water
6-8 mint leaves per glass
2-3 thin slices of lime per glass
1 tsp sugar per glass (optional)

Instructions

Place mint leaves, limes and sugar (if using) in the bottom of the glass.
Muddle leaves, lime slices and sugar until leaves and limes begin to release their juices.
Put watermelon and water in blender and blend until liquid.
Put ice in glass.
Pour watermelon liquid over ice.
Stir to mix mint, limes and watermelon together.
Enjoy!

http://www.nourishedrootspdx.com/blog/watermelon-cooler/

Yum- watermelon coolers. Enjoy!

This post shared on Today’s Creative Blog, Rock My Vegan Socks, Real Food Forager, Urban Naturale, Gluten Free Homemaker, A Southern Fairytale, Turn It Up Tuesday, The Nourishing Gourmet, Natural Living Monday and Food Renegade.

Filed Under: Blog, Drinks

Summertime Hydration

June 5, 2014

The Importance of Summer Hydration.

Hydration: the act or process of combining or treating with water: the introduction of additional fluid into the body

Summertime has arrived in Portland and the importance of proper hydration cannot be overstated. Our bodies require water to stay alive. Humans can survive for over 30 days without food but a mere 3-5 days without water will lead to death. In fact, over half of our body weight is water. Our body uses water for lubricating joints, flushing toxins, nutrient transportation and maintaining proper body temperature. Water is involved in almost every bodily function. Poor hydration can lead to constipation, dry and itchy skin, acne, nose bleeds, repeated urinary tract infections, dry coughs, sneezing, sinus pressure, headaches and fatigue. In fact, a drop in body water as small as 2% can lead to short-term memory problems and difficulty focusing to read a computer screen or printed page.

Without adequate water consumption, our body will not be able to remove the toxic substances it produces. Uric acid, urea and lactic acids are all waste products produced by our own bodies. Our kidneys require sufficient water to dissolve these toxic substances and remove them from the body. Gout, sore muscles and other difficulties can arise if these substances aren’t removed.

Signs of dehydration:

· Feeling thirsty

· Dark colored or scant urine

· Confusion

· Headaches

· Weakness

· Fainting

· Dizziness

· Heart palpitations

· Inability to sweat

· No tears

· Muscle cramps

Recommended Daily Amount of Water:

Recommendations for the amount of water necessary for the average person vary according to activity level, climate, age and other factors. The Institute of Medicine recommends that women take in about 11 cups of fluid a day, and men take in about 15 cups, but that includes liquids found in foods too. Fruits and vegetables add up, since most are at least 80 percent water by weight. For most people, a well-balanced diet combined with 8 glasses of water a day should provide sufficient hydration. One of the simplest methods of checking for dehydration is looking at the color of your urine. If your urine is clear or a pale yellow color, you are most likely receiving adequate hydration.

Some people may need more water to maintain optimal health. Those with certain medical conditions, such as kidney stones or bladder infections, those who are vomiting or have diarrhea and women who are pregnant or breastfeeding will require more water. Also those who spend more time outside in hot weather or are going to be exercising will have an increased need for water. As we age, our ability to detect thirst decreases so elderly people need to be more vigilant about staying hydrated.

Sources of Hydration:

Water and liquids found in food should be your primary sources of hydration. Coconut water, herbal teas, milk, smoothies and fruit and vegetable juices can also contribute to your daily fluid intake. However, it is important to remember these liquids also add calories and sugar to your diet so they should be consumed in moderation. One to two cups of coffee a day can be acceptable. Keep in mind, however, caffeine and alcohol are both diuretics which will contribute to dehydration. There are many tasty and interesting ways to meet your daily hydration needs but water is usually the easiest, most economical and best option.

Check back tomorrow for a yummy recipe for a refreshing Watermelon Aqua Fresca.

See more beautiful photos from Allan Lee on flickr. Text added by me.

Filed Under: Blog, Health Information

Tiny Tip Tuesday: 3 Tips for Balancing Blood Sugar

June 3, 2014

Easy tips to help regulate blood sugar.

What happens in your body when you eat a big blueberry muffin and wash it down with a giant soda? Essentially, your body goes into sugar overload. Your pancreas detects this infusion of sugar, triggering a release of insulin to help cope with the excess sugar. Insulin, a hormone produced by the body, is responsible for regulating the level of sugar in our blood. The more sugar in our bodies, the more insulin our pancreas releases. Insulin helps store the sugar in the liver and muscles as glycogen (to be used later for energy) and in fat cells as triglycerides.

When we down that white flour blueberry muffin combined with a sugary drink, our body struggles to get the insulin to sugar balance right. If we load our body with sugar on a regular basis, the body begins to overcompensate for these blasts of sugar by dropping our blood sugar level down lower than it was before we ate the sugar. This is commonly called a “sugar crash” but the technical name is hypoglycemia. Our body responds to this crash by craving sweets or feeling hungry. When we respond to these cravings by eating more sugar, the whole process begins again. Once we are caught in this cycle of crashing and then sugar consumption, we may feel shakiness, grouchiness, trembling or weakness if we go too long without eating. Most people will feel temporary symptom relief when they eat. My sister refers to this feeling as being “hangry” – feeling grouchy and short tempered until she gets some food. Fortunately, there are some steps to take to avoid this blood sugar roller coaster ride.

Limit the amount of sugar you eat. This includes all forms of sugar- processed carbohydrates, white sugar, agave, honey, sodas, date sugar, muffins, ice cream, cookies, candy or any other food that tastes sweet.
Eat complex carbohydrate rich foods with a protein and/or healthy fat. Combining a carbohydrate rich food with a protein or fat will slow the digestion of the carbs down, giving your body more time to process the sugar. An apple slathered with nut butter or whole-wheat bread with avocado and turkey are good examples of healthy combinations.
Eating small, frequent meals. When we eat on a regular basis, it helps our bodies have a steady source of energy to avoid the peaks and valleys of blood sugar regulation. Aim to eat every 3-4 hours.

Photo by Nimish Gogri. To see more beautiful photos by Nimish go to flickr. (Text on photo added by me.)

Filed Under: Blog, Health Information

Dark Chocolate, Cherry and Hazelnut Bark

May 29, 2014

Finished chocolate cherry hazelnut bark.

As you may have guessed from reading my blog over the last few months, I do love dark chocolate. In fact, in moderation, it is one of my favorite foods. I am always thinking about ways to incorporate it into my diet. (Read more about the benefits of dark chocolate here.) When I was little, my mom use to make candy barks for the holidays. Her bark involved making an amazingly yummy toffee and then covering it in chocolate. This seemed like more steps than I was prepared for today so I decided to try a bark that felt a little less complicated. I already had the four ingredients for this bark in my house so it felt like a no brainer to combine them to make a tasty treat.

Here are the cherries and nuts all ready to be added to the melted dark chocolate. I roughly chopped the nuts but you can make them as fine as you want depending on your preference.

Chopped hazelnuts and dried cherries.

Even though I used ingredients I already had in my house, I was so excited because for my birthday, I received a cookbook called Nuts in the Kitchen by Susan Herrmann Loomis with all sorts of recipes about cooking with nuts. In reading the book, I was intrigued by all the benefits offered by each specific nut. I live in Oregon whose state nut is the hazelnut. Hazelnuts are everywhere and so delicious. In her book, Susan points out that hazelnuts “contain some folate (or vitamin B9) which helps the body make new protein and red blood cells…Hazelnuts also contain generous amounts of copper and manganese.” Dried cherries, one of the other ingredients in this recipe, also provide a good source of copper. Their tart- sweet taste also offers the benefits of Vitamin A and Vitamin C. (And of course, don’t forget all the benefits of dark chocolate.) I hesitate to call this bark a candy because there are so many benefits to eating it!!

Finished dark chocolate, cherry and hazelnut bark.

Dark Chocolate Cherry and Hazelnut Bark

Ingredients

about 6.5-7 oz of dark chocolate
short 1/2 cup of hazelnuts, chopped
short 1/2 cup of cherries
Fresh ground sea salt, optional

Instructions

Melt dark chocolate in double broiler on the stove.
While melting, chop nuts to desired size.
Line pan with parchment paper.
When chocolate finishes melting, fold in cherries and nuts.
Pour chocolate mixture onto parchment cover pan.
Spread mixture across pan.
Grind salt on top if using.
Let sit out for at least 2 hours or until hard.
Break into bite sized pieces.
Enjoy!

http://www.nourishedrootspdx.com/blog/dark-chocolate-cherry-and-hazelnut-bark/

A couple of hints: This bark was packed with nuts and cherries, if you prefer a higher ratio of chocolate to mix ins, I would either melt more chocolate or reduce the amounts of the cherry and nuts. Also, next time I make this, I will be a little more generous with the salt. It is sooo yummy with the sweetness of the chocolate that I think a little more would be nice.

This recipe lends itself to lots of experimentation. I am already thinking of potential ingredients for the next round. What are your favorite ingredients in candy?

Post shared with A Glimpse Inside, Homespun Oasis, Gluten Free Homemaker and Live laugh Rowe.

Filed Under: Blog, Dessert

Tiny Tip Tuesday: A Happy Tummy = A Happy Mind

May 27, 2014

Photo by Kyle Simourd on flickr.

Everyone has heard the terms “follow your gut” or “gut feeling” but until recently most people just thought these terms were a figure a speech. With recent science advances, however, we are discovering there may be more truth to these statements than previously thought.

Science is exploring the impact of gut bacteria or the microbiome on both physical and mental health. It is thought your gut produces over 70% of your immunity, it regulates digestion and metabolism and produces 90-95% of your serotonin. Serotonin is sometimes knows as the “feel good” hormone and is a neurotransmitter responsible for the regulation of mood, memory, appetite, and sleep. For people who don’t produce enough serotonin, depression can become an issue. Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors are anti-depression medications that work to increase the amount of serotonin in the brain. But what if we could increase serotonin by changing our diet to improve gut health? Here are three simple steps you can take to increase your serotonin.

Eat a carbohydrate rich meal. A meal filled with carbohydrates triggers a release of insulin. This insulin release allows the amino acid tryptophan, the precursor to serotonin, to remain in the blood stream at high levels. These high levels of tryptophan then allow more serotonin to be produced in the brain.
Take probiotics and eat fermented foods such as yogurt, kefir, kimichi, kombucha, and sauerkraut. Probiotics and fermented foods introduce healthy bacteria to the gut. This healthy bacteria allows your gut to perform all it’s duties, including serotonin production, more efficiently.
Chew your food. Digestion begins in the mouth. The more your mouth works to break down your food, the less work your gut will have to do.

The science around the microbiome is still in its infancy but with further research, we might be able to better treat depression and other illness with simple adjustments to diet.

This post was shared with Gluten Free Wednesdays, A Mama’s Story and Real Food Forager.

See more photos by Kyle Simourd.

Filed Under: Blog, Health Information

Glo Bar Obsession

May 22, 2014

Glo Bars all ready to eat.

About a week ago, I picked up Angela Liddon’s The The Oh She Glows Cookbook: Over 100 Vegan Recipes to Glow from the Inside Out
. Since then I have become totally obsessed with making recipes out of this book. Now, neither I nor my family are vegan but it has not mattered. Everything I have made from this book has been super yummy! As I have stated before, I am always on the hunt for healthier snack bars to feed my family so when I saw the recipe for her Glo Bars, I knew I had to make them. Usually I make some substitutions or additions to recipes but these sounded so good I made no changes.

Oats and crispy rice cereal- the two main components of the bars.

These bars were very easy and required very little time spent actually cooking- right up my alley. These bars are gluten free, no bake, refined sugar and oil free- yummy!!

Finished bars.

Glo Bar Obsession

Ingredients

1 1?2 cups gluten-free rolled oats
1 1?4 cups rice crisp cereal
1?4 cup hemp seeds
1?4 cup sunflower seeds
1?4 cup unsweetened shredded coconut
2 tablespoons sesame seeds
2 tablespoons chia seeds
1?2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1?4 teaspoon fine-grain sea salt
1?2 cup, plus 1 tablespoon, brown rice syrup
1?4 cup roasted peanut butter or almond butter (I used almond butter.)
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1?4 cup mini non-dairy chocolate chips (such as Enjoy Life brand) (optional)

Instructions

Combine ingredients through sea salt in a large bowl.
Place brown rice syrup and nut butter on the stove until begins to liquefy.
Watch carefully and stir frequently.
Pour hot liquids over the dry ingredients.
Stir well till all dry ingredients are coated with syrup mixture.
Stir in chocolate chips after mixture cools a bit. (I got impatient and stirred them in before it was cool and the chips melted a little. Fortunately, I like having the chocolate distributed throughout the bars!)
Spread mixture in parchment lined pan and put in fridge until hardens.
Once hard, take out of pan by lifting from parchment paper edges.
Use pizza cutter to cut into bars.
Store uneaten portions in the fridge.

http://www.nourishedrootspdx.com/blog/glo-bar-obsession/

My son on as a sous chef!

Eat up!

Enjoy these tasty bars!

This post shared with The Nourishing Gourmet, A Glimpse Inside, The Idea Room, Food Renegade, Urban Naturale, Hello Veggy and Homespun Oasis.

Filed Under: Blog, Snacks

Tiny Tip Tuesday: Protein for Vegans and Vegetarians

May 20, 2014

Photo by rusvaplauke with text added by me.

My vegan and vegetarian friends say they are always asked about how they get their protein. However, recent research has pointed to the fact that it is easier than you think to get your protein needs met even without eating meat. Protein, along with fat and carbs, is one of the three macro nutrients that are essential for life. You have protein in every cell in your body. Protein is composed of amino acids. Non- essential amino acids can be made by your body but essential amino acids must be obtained through food or supplementation. Proteins are lumped into two categories- complete and incomplete. A complete protein contains all nine of the essential amino acids in the correct ratios. Incomplete proteins either lack some of the essential amino acids or the amino acids aren’t in the correct ratios the body needs. However, a protein can be made complete by combining more than one incomplete protein. Conventional wisdom use to state that to make a complete proteins the incomplete proteins had to be eaten in the same meal. It is now known that as long as you eat your incomplete proteins within 24 hours, they will combine to make a complete protein. Below is an easy list to help you form complete proteins. Simply eat food from two or more of the different categories in a 24 hour period and you will get all the amino acids needed to form a complete protein.

GRAINS : barley, corn meal, oats, rice pasta, bulgar, wheat, amaranth, spelt, quinoa, millet or other whole grains.

LEGUMES: beans, lentil, peas, peanuts or soy products.

SEEDS & NUTS: sesame seeds, sunflower seeds, walnuts, cashews, almonds, pumpkin seeds, pecans, nut butters or other nuts and seeds.

VEGETABLES: leafy greens, broccoli, corn, mushrooms, carrots, yams or other vegetables.

Added to REal Food Forager, Gluten Free Homemaker, Rock My Vegan Socks and Urban Naturale,

Filed Under: Blog, Health Information

Dark Chocolate Covered Seed and Nut Bars

May 14, 2014

Finished bars all ready to eat.

It has suddenly gotten amazingly hot and sunny here in the Pacific Northwest. I LOVE IT! I am a total sun girl- everything seems better with a little sun! The only bummer is our house gets incredibly hot as the day goes on. As the mercury rises, trying to avoid further heating of the house with cooking becomes a consuming obsession. Imagine my joy when I came upon these amazing raw seed and nut bars from This Rawsome Vegan Life while surfing Pintrest (you can find me here on Pintrest).

All the yummies that make up these awesome bars.

These bars have everything you could possibly need for a little pick me up in a busy day. Healthy sugar from organic dates and raisins, omega-3’s from chia seeds, walnuts and flax seeds and protein from all those seeds and nuts. Pumpkin seeds further contribute to the omega-3’s but they also give a much need boost of zinc (read here about the benefits of zinc.).The medium-chain triglycerides (MCTs) in the coconut oil provide a blast of increase energy expenditure compared to the same amount of calories from longer chain fats. And, of course, I couldn’t resist adding a dark chocolate covered topping to increase my antioxidant exposure. (Read more about the benefits of dark chocolate here.

Dark chocolate squares melting in double broiler.

I put the dark chocolate squares on the stove in a makeshift double broiler while I started the grinding of the seeds and nuts in the food processor. After the nuts and seeds resembled a course crumb, I gradually added the raisins and dates. Mixing this all together required some time, with multiple stops to scrape down the sides of the food processor. I used roughly 2 tbs of coconut oil but you will have to judge the stickiness of your own dough. The moisture content of the dates and raisins seems to impact how sticky the dough becomes.

All the ingredients before being ground.

Melting chocolate for the topping.

Bars with melted chocolate ready to go to the fridge to harden.

Finished bars.

These were super easy to whip up and so tasty! I think they might be my new favorite bar!

Dark Chocolate Covered Seed and Nut Bars

Ingredients

1 cup walnuts
1/3 cup chia seeds
1/3 cup ground flax seeds
1/3 cup hemp seeds
1/4 cup cacao nibs
1/4 cup coconut flakes
3/4 cup pumpkin seeds
1/2 cup raisins
1 cup dates
1-2 tablespoons melted coconut oil, if needed
4 Dark chocolate squares for topping.

Instructions

Melt dark chocolate over double broiler on the stove.
Put all ingredients except raisins, coconut oil and dates in food processor.
Process until you have a course crumb mixture.
Add raisins and dates.
Process until dough starts sticking together.
Add coconut oil as needed to help with sticking.
Put dough in parchment lined pan.
Use your hands to press to uniform depth throughout the pan.
Pour melted chocolate over top of bars.
Spread chocolate.
Put bars in fridge for about an hour.
Once firm and chocolate hardens, take out and cut.
Store in fridge.
Enjoy!

http://www.nourishedrootspdx.com/blog/dark-chocolate-covered-seed-and-nut-bars/

Share a link to your favorite bar recipe!

This post was shared with Gluten Free Homemaker, A glimpse Inside, Homespun Oasis, The Nourishing Gourmet, Rock My Vegan Socks, Food Renegade, Today’s Creative Blog and Live Laugh Rowe..

Filed Under: Blog, Snacks

Tiny Tip Tuesday: Drink Your Red Wine???

May 13, 2014

Photo by Fredrik Rubensson

New information recently released from Italy calls the current suggestion of drinking red wine for heart health into question. Previously, resveratrol, an antioxidant found in red wine, chocolate, and grapes, was thought to provide some protection against heart disease, cancer and to lower cholesterol. However, a study conducted in Italy that followed 783 Tuscan men and women for over ten years found no relationship between the level of resveratrol in urine and death rates from heart disease or cancer. In fact, those subjects with the lowest rate of reserveratol had the least chance of dying from heart disease. Cancer rates did not differ significantly across urinary levels of resveratrol. In fact, most of the previous positive data about resveratrol has come from in vitro or animal studies and some of that data was later found to be falsified. So does this mean we should stop enjoying our red wine? If your are drinking wine solely for the reported health benefits, then you may have to rethink your consumption. However, if you drink wine because you enjoy the taste and the health benefits were just a bonus, then continue enjoying it in moderation. I, for one, plan to continue indulging in a little wine in combination with a healthy whole foods diet and regular exercise not because of the potential health benefits but because I enjoy the taste. Until more high-quality research is available on the benefits of resveratrol, experts say they can’t recommend resveratrol supplements for anti-aging or disease prevention.

This link was shared with Real Food Forager and Urban Naturale.

Filed Under: Blog, Health Information

Chocolate Almond Butter Energy Blasts

May 8, 2014

Chocolate Energy Blasts

Who doesn’t love a little ball of chocolate protein yumminess? I know I sure do! A no bake way to sneak more protein in my diet? Sign me up!! I have been seeing variations of these balls all over the internet and finally decided to break down and try them for myself. They are super easy and quick to make- even little kids can make them. I based my recipe on one I found on the Whole Foods website with a few minor changes.

Ready to eat.

I used almond butter for my Energy Blasts but I know peanut butter or any other nut butter would be just as yummy! I also used dried blueberries because I had them in the house but the original recipe called for raisins. I think dried currants would also be tasty. These balls lend themselves to all sorts of substitutions so don’t be shy about experimenting with your own personal ideal Energy Blast.

Chocolate Almond Butter Energy Blasts

Ingredients

1 cup almond butter
1/3 cup honey
2 tbs of unsweetened organic cocoa powder
1/2 cup dried blueberries
3/4 cup unsweetened shredded coconut, divided
1/4 cup sesame seeds
1/4 cup finely chopped nuts (walnuts, pecans, etc.)

Instructions

Place almond butter, honey, cocoa powder, blueberries and 2 tbs of coconut in food processor.
Process until well combined.
Put sesame seeds, coconut and walnuts in three separate bowls.
Using about a tablespoon of dough roll into a ball until fairly well formed but not perfect.
Roll ball in either coconut, sesame seeds or pecans depending on your taste.
Continue rolling until reaches roundness.
Enjoy!
Store leftovers in the fridge. These will get sticky if they get hot.

http://www.nourishedrootspdx.com/blog/chocolate-almond-butter-energy-blasts/

As you can see my kindergarten play dough rolling skills are not that great but these will still taste great even if they are not perfectly round.

Enjoy your Protein Blast!

This post was shared with Food Renegade, Allergy Free Alaska, Natural Living Monday, Gluten Free Friday, A Southern Fairy Tale, Today’s Creative Blog and She Eats.

Filed Under: Blog, Snacks

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