Sweets From the Earth



We were happy when Sweets From the Earth asked us to guest blog for them because we looOOoooOOve their desserts!  Their vegan (read:  egg/dairy free and not to mention gluten, wheat and nut free) Chocolate Cheescake and Flourless Cashew cookies are our two top faves and have been there for us through several happy celebrations!

Check out our blog entry at http://www.sweetsfromtheearth.com/blog/!

Happy Spring!
:)
Aileen Lim-Trotter

Flexible Quinoa Salad - safe to bring to dinner parties!

This is one of our favourite naturopathic-friendly go-to recipes that can easily be altered to suit your tastes or pantry supplies. The bonus of this very healthy (and dairy-free, egg-free, gluten-free, vegan) recipe is that it is safe enough to bring to dinner parties (ie. not too weird-looking and enough flavour to appeal to everyone's tastebuds, even for those who aren't health-conscious). We have tested variations of this recipe out at a few potluck parties, and it always gets rave reviews.

Flexible Quinoa Salad

Ingredients
1 ½ cups quinoa
3 cups water
pinch of salt

½ cup dried apricots or cranberries, finely diced
½ cup red bell pepper
½ cup yellow bell pepper
¾ cup toasted pine nuts, cashews pecans or walnuts
¼ cup chopped cilantro or basil

Vinaigrette
grated lemon zest and lemon juice from one lemon
splash of balsamic vinegar
¼ tsp paprika
salt and pepper to taste
¼ cup olive oil

Directions
1. Rinse the quinoa thoroughly in cold water then pour into a fine meshed strainer and rinse again under running water (if not rinsed well, quinoa tends to be bitter).
2. Bring water to boil and add salt, then stir in the quinoa.
3. Lower the heat, cover and cook for 15min. Taste the grain. There should be just a little resistance and the opaque spiraled ring of germ should show. If necessary continue cooking until done.
4. Pour into strainer and set it to drain over a bowl.
5. Toast all the nuts either in a dry pan or the mini oven works great too! Just put them on some foil in the mini oven, watch them carefully and stir often because they may burn.
6. Combine the apricots, peppers, nuts and cilantro in a large bowl.
7. Mix together the ingredients for the vinaigrette and add to the bowl of yummy apricots, peppers, nuts and cilantro.
8. Once the quinoa has cooled, add it to the bowl. Give it a good mix and ENJOY!

Mini Detox Check-in... (and sample detox menu)

So Aileen and I are on Day 7 of our midsummer detox...and this is my breakfast (recipe is a variation of the one listed on my protein powder post). We are surviving it better than we were expecting; I think we were both in the right mindset to take a little break from typical summer indulgences.

I incorporate my favourite Thorne Mediclear cleanse powder containing 30g of organic brown rice protein, along with liver, digestion supportive nutrients, and supe it up with L-glutamine (to strengthen the lining of the digestive tract and lean muscle mass) and Organika Spirulina. Aileen prefers her hemp protein powder, and adds a shot of pomegranate juice in her shake...adds a nice bit of flavour.

We are both feeling 'digestively strengthened' (I'll keep it at that to avoid sharing too many details of our bowel improvements), with no cravings for wine (Aileen), beer (me), sweets or dairy, which were our biggest vices in the early part of the summer.

Energy has been fantastic, having great sleeps, and just feeling overall cleaner and less congested. We both agree that this was well-needed and surprisingly easy to incorporate. A bonus is that it is pretty easy to structure meals and menus for the week.

What!?! No Dairy?!! But What Will I Put In My Coffee?!?

For all of you die hard coffee drinkers out there, I know that coffee was meant to be had in it's true form...black.

But for the rest of us...that live for the creaminess of a cup of coffee with milk, it's devastating to find out that we are lactose intolerant, allergic to dairy or have an intolerance/sensitiviy to dairy.

For this group, I have an amazing solution for you.....COCONUT MILK!!  It mixes in beautifully without separating and has the same texture as pure dairy cream.  Here is a pic for proof: