Nutrient Rich Foods - Spirulina Fruit Shakes

Personally, I don't like the term superfood, especially how it has been banded around the media over the last few years. You don't hear the terminology "superfood" referred to with carrots do you? But to me carrots are one of the healthiest foods out there, if you don't believe me do some research yourself, you'll be amazed at the power of a carrot!

This month I am focussing on "nutrient rich foods" which are high in a number of vitamins and minerals, which are said to have a number of health benefits. They are the most potent and super concentrated foods you can find, which will improve your overall health. Now, I'm not a dietician or medical expert but an individual who after undertaking research for myself has decided to include some of these foods into my diet. 

Today, I'm focusing on Spirulina, which is a blue-green algae which is found on water. In other words its like pond scum, but that doesn't sound appetizing at all does it? So lets stick with calling it Spirulina, it sounds far more appealing and kind of exciting! 

Spirulina provides a vast array of minerals and my research has unearthed that it is the worlds highest source of complete protein! In fact around 65% of Spirulina's dry weight is protein. Spirulina also has over 100 types of nutrients including B complex vitamins, which is great news for vegans.

There are many reports of health benefits associated with Spriulina although it appears that more research is needed before it can be determined whether or not Spirulina can treat certain health conditions.

Personally, after the research I have undertaken I have decided to include Spirulina in my diet for the following health reasons:

• To strengthen my immune system so I'm less likely to experience colds and other winter bugs.
• To help with inflammation, it is said to be one of the most powerful anti-inflammatory agents in nature.
• To ease the symptoms of pre-menstrual tension, it is said to be one of the leading sources of Gamma-linolenic acid (GLA) 
• To help my body detox naturally, and provide a boost in energy, Spirulina has a very high concentration of chlorophyll, a natural detoxifying agent 
• To ease my heyfever symptoms, it is reported that Spirulina can alleviate allergies. Since transfering to a vegan diet my heyfever is mild into comparison what it has been previously so I'm all for an extra boost to make it disappear altogether!

So, how can you introduce Spirulina into your diet? The easiest way is by adding a teaspoon into your juices, smoothies or just adding it to a glass of water. But I wanted something a bit more exciting than that, enter fruit shakes.

Fruit shakes have the consistency of a milk shake but use frozen fruit instead of milk.Thanks to my beloved Vitamix I can make fruit shakes in 2 minutes flat, which includes cleaning up afterwards! Any powerful blender should work though, just make sure it is suitable for ice!

I've been playing around with fruit shakes for a while now and I have three out right favourites, strawberry, raspberry and a combination of mango and pineapple. Just add a teaspoon of Spirulina to the mix and there you have it a green fruit shake.

When they are first made they are the thickness of soft serve ice cream, in fact I can hold my jug upside down and they don't budge. But after transferring to a glass they soon start to melt a little and are easy to drink through a straw.

I make one every morning, transfer to a plastic cup so I can transport it to work and as soon as I get to my desk its ready for drinking, delicious. In fact I'm drinking my green fruit shake right now!

Green Fruit Shake
Take any of the recipes below and add 1 teaspoon of Spirulina to your blender and whiz up! My favourite to add the Spirulina to is the mango and pineapple fruit shake as you get such a vivid green colour. The raspberry and strawberry fruit shakes are more brown than green in colour. Any recipe you choose though is delicious.





Mango & Pineapple Fruit Shake

Ingredients
4 Tbsp Lime and Lemon yoghurt
(I used Alpro)
1 Frozen banana
150g Frozen mango & pinapple pieces
(great if you can freeze your own but a bag from the supermarket works well)
100ml Cold water

Method
Add the ingredients to your blender of choice in the order above and blend until you have a smooth consistency similar to soft serve ice cream. I have to use a tamper with my Vitamix machine to push the frozen fruit down towards the blades. 





Raspberry Fruit Shake

Ingredients

4 Tbsp Rhubarb and Strawberry yoghurt
(I used Alpro)
1 Frozen banana
75g Frozen raspberries
(great if you can freeze your own but a bag from the supermarket works well)
100ml Cold water

Method
Add the ingredients to your blender of choice in the order above and blend until you have a smooth consistency similar to soft serve ice cream. I have to use a tamper with my Vitamix machine to push the frozen fruit down towards the blades. 



Strawberry Fruit Shake

Ingredients
3 Tbsp Vanilla yoghurt 
(I used Alpro)
12 Strawberries (frozen)
1 Banana (frozen)
200ml Coconut water

Method

Add the ingredients to your blender of choice in the order above and blend until you have a smooth consistency similar to soft serve ice cream. I have to use a tamper with my Vitamix machine to push the frozen fruit down towards the blades. 

          

Strawberry Mousse

I'm loving this weather we are having at the moment! Are you? Wall to wall sunshine, I'm so glad I booked this week off from work. We were planning on holidaying in Dorset but unfortunately we had left booking somewhere far too late and couldn't manage to book a cottage for the 3 of us within our budget. 

To cut a long story short we decided to have a 'staycation' and I'm so pleased we did. It has meant some great days out, a visit (& forage) to my gardening angels allotment and lots of gardening and recipe creating too. The only problem is the week has flown by far too fast - I could do with another week!

Marco people watching on Formby Beach

July is the height of the strawberry season and you need to make the most of these delicious berries. Go wild for Strawberry Smoothies, Strawberries & Vegan Ice-cream, Strawberries & Balsamic Vinegar (don't knock it until you've tried it) and Strawberry Mousse.

My recipe for strawberry mousse makes a soft and silky mousse, it doesn't set firm like a blancmange. It tastes of the summer and I could eat it morning, noon and night. In fact I've eaten it for breakfast before now!

The recipe makes 2 large servings (wine glass size) or 4 smaller servings, but you'll go back for more.

Ingredients 

1 Can of coconut milk*
1 Punnet Strawberries
1 Tbsp Maple syrup

*Place the can of coconut milk in the fridge the night before.

Method

First clean and hull your strawberries and halve each strawberry. If they are very big halve them again. 

Add the strawberries and maple syrup to a blender or a liquidiser and blend until smooth.

Place a sieve over a jug and pour the strawberry mixture into the sieve. Using a back of a spoon carefully stir the strawberry mixture so it passes through the sieve leaving the strawberry seeds behind.

Open the can of coconut milk from the fridge and pour off the liquid into a container. Don't throw this away use it in a soup or pasta dish as a base to the pasta sauce. Mushrooms work well.

Empty the coconut cream that has solidified at the bottom of the can into a bowl. Using a electric whisk, beat the coconut cream till it is light & fluffy.

Pour the strawberry mixture into the bowl with the coconut cream and using the electric whisk make sure everything is combined. Pour into glasses and place in the fridge for at least an hour before devouring.

More berry recipes coming soon, keep your eye on that specials board...........

Edit Post: Challenges entered

As per the comment from Shaheen below  I've submitted this recipe to her "Vegetable Palette Challenge". 

Shaheen runs the fabulous Allotment to Kitchen blog and every month Shaheen chooses a colour, and you make a recipe with vegetables, fruits or a combination of both with that colour. Its a great idea! The colour for July is red.

Once you've posted a recipe you email Shaheen and a round up of all the entries will be posted on her blog before the end of the month.

After entering the strawberry mousse recipe into Shaheens Vegetable Palette Challenge I started scouring the web for other challenges and there are lots of them! I came across the flood blog diary, which lists all the challenges that are taking part each month, in July there are 25 challenges. Looking through the list I came across "Lets cook with Strawberries" and I thought why not enter this recipe there too, 'it would be rude not to', wouldn't it?

And I didn't stop there as I came across Simple and in Season blog, which asks you to enter recipes which use a product that's in season right now. I thought this recipe is also perfect for this challenge - why not enter it there too!

Looking around at all the challenges currently going on I came across so many other foodie blogs including Ren Behan who writes about seasonally inspired and family friendly food. Ren hosted the "Simple & In Season" challenge back in April.

I also liked the theme run by Vanesther, who was hosting the

Family Food chill out baby challenge for July. Vanesther runs the blog Bangers and Mash and her and Louisa form the Eat Your Veg blog both run the Family Food challenges. July's challenge "Chill Out Baby" calls for all recipes which are tasty eats and drinks for chilling out and cooling down in the summer sun. July seems to be hitting the mark so far on that one the weather has been gorgeous!

I'll be keeping my eye out for new and up and coming challenges, why not stop by the flood blog diary to see if any challenges tickle your fancy. The food blog diary also lists all the foodie giveaways too which is always worth a look!

Strawberry Picking & Strawberry Smoothie

I decided that I wanted to go out for the day on Saturday and I wanted to fill it with things that you can't normally do on a work day, because work gets in the way. So I asked Mum (aka Superwoman) if she fancied a day out. 

Our first point of call was to the local library, where I found and subsequently hired another vegan cook book that I not seen before, called "Vegan Cookbook - The Essential Guide", by Isobel Hood. It will become my bed time read for the next few days as with all vegan cookbooks. I read them all from cover to cover but rarely follow a recipe. Maybe I should start reviewing the books I've got and post the results here. Problem is I really struggle to follow a recipe, I always manage to steer off course! I did however find another little gem at the library, a book called "The Flavour Thesaurus", by Nicki Segent. It details "pairings, recipes and ideas for the creative cook". Under each food item or ingredient is a summary of that item, including a history of an ingredient through to a description of the flavour, almost like a wine tasting summary. Te book then identifies other foods that compliment the item or ingredient and suggest how the two foods can be combined.

After the library we decided to grab a bite to eat and we visited the Barley Mow which is pretty good for vegans. The pub itself has been there for years and fairly recently was taken over by the chain called Eating Inn. What I like about this particular chain is that they publish the nutritional and allergen information of their website (as do many other companies). The information is broken down by item/ingredient of each dish and whilst no one dish is vegan you can ask for ingredients not to be added and therefore the dish becomes vegan. I chose the Vegetable Fajitas and asked them to not provide the cheese or sour cream, it was a bonus when my food came with extra salsa and guacamole! There are other dishes which can be made vegan on their menu too so no doubt another visit soon will be in order.

After lunch was devoured we visited a nearby garden centre where I managed to pick up a curry plant and a chicory plant for my garden, which had been knocked down to half price. All they needed was a little TLC and they will bounce right back. 

Finally we visited a farm shop which had lots of local fruit and vegetable produce, I was in vegan heaven especially when I found out you could pick your own strawberries! I used to pick strawberries as a teenager for some extra pocket money and it was back breaking work, bending over for hours on end. After one summer I remember thinking that I would never eat another strawberry again as long as I live, I'd seen enough of them, every time I blinked I saw strawberries floating by. But today, strawberries are no longer grown on the ground but at shoulder height, no more back ache. I couldn't believe how excited I was at the fact you could pick your own, I was transported back in time and my punnet was filling fast. I had to tell myself to stop as there was only so many strawberries I could eat!

The strawberries were so tasty I couldn't wait to get home and whizz up a smoothie, but I was so full from lunch it had to wait till breakfast the next day.

Strawberry, Banana and Orange Smoothie


Ingredients
Handful of strawberries
1 Orange
1 Banana
Splash of water, if needed

Method
Juice the orange and add the juice to your blender, Add the strawberries, if you have big fruits it may be worth while cutting them up a little, especially if your blender is not that powerfull. Slice your banana and add to the blender, top with the soya yoghurt and a splash of water and blend until smooth. Pour into a glass, add a straw and enjoy.

Morning Fruit Salad

Guess what? I went shopping on the way home from work, last night! What a massive chore that was. But on the plus side I picked up lots of fresh fruit and vegetables to cook some amazing dinners with. I'm quite excited to see what I come up with. To start things off though I want to showcase some of the fresh fruit I bought, it almost feels like summer is here. What better way to start the morning with a fresh fruit salad with some soy yoghurt drizzled over the top. I was getting fed up with smoothies for breakfast, well more fed up with washing out the blender if I'm honest! Today I preferred the fruit in its most natural form, and not blended up with vegetables. I chose a salad of apple, cherry, grape and strawberry and it was delicious.

Cold sores; the good, the bad and the ugly!

Yep cold sores are all those things bar 'the good'! 

It seems my run of bad luck in the health department is ongoing, I now have a bottom lip full of cold sores! Yep it hurts to talk, eat and drink and I'm really starting to feel very sorry for myself now!

I've been googling what foods I should be eating to combat cold sores and it appears that foods high in arginine should be a no no and foods high in lysine are recommended. So what foods contain these two amino acids:

Arginine

• Chocolate
• Nuts including peanut butter
• Oats including porridge
• Seeds
• Grains

Lysine

• Milk
• Yoghurt
• Cheese
• Eggs
• Brewers yeast
• Sardines
• Cod
• Chicken
• Beef lamb

As you can see from the two lists above, my first research into what foods to eat wasn't looking too promising as none of them were vegan! Even worse the foods I should be avoiding were regulars in my diet. But I carried on with my research and I did find that most vegetables are also high in Lysine, especially:

Vegan Lysine

• Apple
• Apricot
• Avocado
• Beetroot
• Fig
• Mango
• Papaya
• Pear
• Tomato

My research also informed me that I should also be nourishing my skin with essential nutrients to help ward off the cold sores. It is recommended that you ensure you are getting plenty of zinc, vitamin C and bioflavonoids. These will help you protect, nourish and strengthen your skin. 

Apparently zinc is not found in large amounts in plant foods, but the best, common plant sources of zinc are legumes, nuts, seeds, and oatmeal. Which if I believe the research I've undertaken so far are mainly foods to avoid because they also contain arginine. However, legumes aren't listed as an arginine food so I figured they need to make a larger appearance in my diet. 

Bioflavonoids, are also sometimes referred to as “Vitamin P,” and they are super-antioxidants found in many natural foods. Apparently bioflavonoids are found in many of the same foods that contain vitamin C, which is good news for me.

Zinc foods not containing arginine

• Tofu
• Chick peas
• Pinto & kidney beans
• Lentils
• Corn, peas and broccoli

Vitamin C

• Fresh fruit, especially, oranges, kiwis, papaya, strawberries
• Leafy vegetables; kale, spinach, mustard greens, garden cress, lettuce, bok choy
• Bell peppers and red & green chilli peppers
• Thyme and Parsely
• Broccoli, cauliflower, brussel sprouts

Bioflavonoids

• Bell peppers
• Citrus fruits, oranges, lemon and lime
• Tropical Fruits or Exotic fruits, like mangoes and papayas
• Strawberries, peaches and nectarines
• Broccoli, spinach and brussel sprouts
• Garlic
• Black and Green Tea

So I now knew what foods I should be eating and what I should be avoiding, the dilemma was to cook something up with food I had at home as the last thing I felt like doing was going shopping! To top things off, hubby is in bed with a chest infection and cold, so he didn't feel like shopping either. Because its easy to drink through a straw at the moment I decided the first thing I would do is whip up a cold sore beating smoothie.

Ingredients

100ml Beetroot juice, I used 'beet it'

Handfull of Spinach

85g Tofu (drained weight)

1 Apple, peeled

5 Strawberries, hulled

100ml Cold water

Method

Add all ingredients to the blender in the order above and blend until smooth. Easy!