Apple Spiced Wassail

I love this Apple Spiced Wassail

This is a much better alternative to store bought Apple Ciders, Hot Coco's, etc.

Much healthier too

I got all my ingredients and threw everything in my Vita-mix...

Yum, so good!

Checkout the recipe here.

 

Pumpkin Hummus

This is oh so good! Recipe found at The Paleo Mama...

Ingredients

• 3/4 cup pumpkin puree (I made my own)
• 1 cup peeled & chopped zucchini (I steamed mine)
• 1/4 cup tahini
• 1 tsp garlic powder
• Juice of 1 lemon
• 2 tbl extra virgin olive oil
• 1 tsp ground cumin
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp smoked paprika

Directions:

1. Add all ingredients to a mini food processor.
2. Process until everything is combined and the texture is as smooth as you like – that’s it! Drizzle with a little extra olive oil for prettiness before serving.

Serve it with cut veggies or homemade crackers...

Homemade Almond Butter :)

 I pulled my almonds out of the refrigerator and put them in my Vita-mix to make my own almond butter. Almond Butter at the health food store can be expensive! Depending on where you live it will range from $11-$30 for a 16oz jar. So, I will resort to my trusty blender and these the awesome health benefits of almonds...

Apple Banana Ice Cream :)

 I sliced up some apple bananas...

Put them in in a ziplock bag, then in the freezer, and then put it in my Vitamix with some almond milk...

 It was really good!

Especially, after I added some almonds and pecans on the side!

Coconut Pineapple Smoothie

Just a few simple ingredients...

One whole freshly cut pineapple, 1/2-1 cup Unsweetened Coconut Milk, & ice if desired.

Oh yeah, super good!

Pineapples have a powerful enzyme bromelain. Bromelain helps with inflammation, swelling, & treating sore muscles. Bodybuilders know how important it is to get bromelain into their bodies to recover. For me it's awesome to juice or eat fresh pineapples when I have sore calves and muscles from ballet. Fresh pineapples also helps build strong bones and helps with indigestion and acid reflux. Can't go wrong when choosing a wholefood like pineapple, just go easy on it and don't eat too much at one time. Good facts here.

Especially, with fresh cut up strawberries!

Whole Wheat Waffles & Non-GMO

This picture and whole wheat waffle recipe is from Vitamix.com. I've used many recipes from their website to make things in my Vitamix and they have all turned out great!

 My mix of dry ingredients...

1 cup Organic Whole Wheat (Bob's Red Mill)

1 cup Organic Unbleached White Flour

1 tablespoon Baking Powder (Rumford Aluminum/GMO Free)

1 teaspoon Sea Salt

Then all the wet ingredients for the batter go straight into the blender...

  I used...

2 cups Unsweetened Almond Milk

2 Organic Eggs (egg substitute chia seeds, etc.)

2 tablespoon Raw Organic Honey (Honey down below is so so good!)

4 oz Organic Tofu (You ALWAYS want GMO free soy!)

Click on the highlighted links for good information on why to buy GMO free, especially soy...USDA Organic Soy & GMO's = not good.

Top Genetically Modified Foods...Corn and Soy are ALWAYS at the top of every list and also in just about every single piece of processed food you buy cereals, chips, popcorn, granola bars, crackers, baby foods, baby formula, pre-made mixes, animal feed, dairy, etc. Check out this list of more GMO foods. These kinds of foods are especially harmful to kids. The government is allowing so many more GMO foods. Would you ever think Sugar Beets (one variety of beets) to be a GMO food? Beets have the highest content of sugar of all vegetables, all natural, but when it's processed into refined sugar it loses all nutritional value and is just plain sugar and no bueno for our bodies. All of this GMO stuff is terrible, just terrible! The best way to avoid GMO foods/products is to make your own food and know what you are feeding your body. Also, a lot of health foods will definitely say right on their product "Non-GMO." I'm not saying you should never eat gmo's, but it should be very minimal.

Then take out the plug on top of the lid and put the dry ingredients into the batter and let it mix.

Put some frozen or fresh berries on top and enjoyed this nice & simple meal!

Raw Organic Applesauce

 For raw (uncooked) applesauce I cored the center out, quartered the apple, put it in the blender, and added some fresh squeezed lemon juice. 

 

This was fast and easy, however nothing can beat just eating the apple whole!

Organic Applesauce

 I've been wanting to make my own applesauce and oh my goodness, the homemade stuff is so much better than the organic applesauce we buy at the store! I never really liked the texture of applesauce, but this stuff is good! I buy the 10lbs bags of organic red apples at Costco for juicing and eating, but this time I bought an extra bag to make applesauce. Here's the process I did...

I had to buy a apple corer and cored out the center of the apple.

Have you ever heard of controversies over toxins found in manufactured apple juice and applesauce....Los Angeles Times: Dr. Oz vs. FDA, Arsenic found in Mott's apple juice, Eco-News. I've known that apple seeds are toxic, containing cyanide, so can we be sure that the prepared foods we buy are the best quality and safe? I'm all about knowing exactly what is going into my food. When you prepare your own food, you most likely are using crazy toxic chemicals and preservatives that are put in processed foods. The more you know about your food the better off your body and health will be!

 Next, I peeled off the skins, quartered the apple, and then chopped 'em up in cubes. And tossed them into my steaming basket in a pot on the stove. I let the apples steam for about 5-8mins.

In this first batch I added some fresh squeezed lemon to help the applesauce coloring stay light and yellow.

 

 I put all the steamed apples and lemon juice into the vita-mix on low speeds.

 I slowly turned up the speed and used the tamper stick to push down the apples, so everything was getting blended. 

  

 It came out nice and smooth!

 The jar on the left is the applesauce with the lemon added and the jar on the right has nothing added.

Finished product and oh so good! I like to save all my glass jars and they are really starting to add up. My husband will be delighted I'm finally using them, all in good time!

Orange Spinach Smoothie

First, juice the oranges...

Then put handful of carrots, a little bit of cabbage, spinach, 1/2 an orange with peel off, banana, and ice. The more ice you add it'll turn into a sorbet.

I had one of these at a Vita-mix demo at Costco, expcet theirs came out nice, lovely, and orange. I prefer more greens...

The beat part for my kids is that we get to freeze the leftovers in Popsicle holders!

Organic Quinoa Pancakes

I got this recipe from my Quinoa 365: The Everyday Superfood. I blended organic quinoa in my vita-mix and then mix all the ingredients. We put a little agave for syrup and frozen cherries on top!

Green Juice

Organic carrots, organic celery, organic gala apple, oranges, lemon, then I stuffed my Vita-mix to the brim with organic spinach and also some kale. Yum!

Watermelon Smoothie

My husband made this yummy watermelon smoothie or more like watermelon slushie! He scraped out half of a cold watermelon, put it in the blender with ice, and then served. I buy a lot of watermelon, but the trick is finding the ripest, sweetest, juiciest, and tastiest one! My dad always picked the best watermelon and that's because growing up he would go pick watermelons in the garden. He says all you gotta do is give them a good flick and see which one sounds the most hollow. Over the years I've been able to get some pretty tasty watermelons by following his advice!