morning lemon - easy peasy green tea lemonade

Another successful copycat beverage - green tea lemonade. The natural foods store around the corner from me is having an awesome sale on Santa Cruz lemonade (regular and raspberry which is highly addictive) $1.99 a bottle - you should check your local natural store!

I brewed up green tea (I like Yogi brand) - 2 tea bags in approx 2 cups just-before-boiling water - and put into an empty lemonade bottle, which filled it up about halfway. I topped it up with lemonade, gave it a good shake and popped it in the fridge. A bit later over ice it was perfect.

 

almo(st) mochaccino

It was big news when Starbucks opened in my neighborhood, which is made up of mostly small independent shops and cafes. Of course it had to open near the end of my pregnancy, when I was desperately craving chocolatey/milky things daily. My husband and I got a bit too used to the 2 minute walk around the corner and also chose to ignore the significant amount of money flying out of our wallets. Well, now that baby is out, we have cut back significantly. A big reason for me besides spending too much is that too much dairy consumption by me noticeably affects my boy - in a spit up way! Not that it is causing him discomfort, but I was getting a bit sick of changing my/his clothes a couple of times a day.

Taking all this into account, I decided I still needed a daily treat (trust me, when you are taking care of a newborn, you need this) but I didn’t want to spend lots of money, and I didn’t want to have dairy or soymilk. So, I decided to invest in a thermo-cup and create my own version of a mochaccino - 1/2 instant coffee, 1/2 chocolate almond milk. Of course it doesn’t taste like a Starbucks mocha, but more money in the bank and less laundry makes it worth it. Besides, I love almond milk, and it does taste pretty dang good.

If you don’t like to have too much dairy and you have never tried almond milk, I highly recommend it. It has a nice consistency - thinner than soy milk but not as thin as rice milk, and it tastes great (not too almondy like you would think). I use the original unsweetened on cereal, have used the vanilla for baking (makes cupcakes extra moist!) and the chocolate is good straight up in a glass.

Stay tuned for another faux Starbucks drink attempt soon - green tea lemonade!

 

cupcake hero brought me back

Hello! Wow - it has been a long 4 months since my last post. For those who don’t know my baby boy was born naturally at home Feb 9 with no complications. It was an amazing birth, and life is going along here with lots of love and little sleep! It is hard to adjust to someone else’s needs and wants coming first, but I have managed to squeeze in a few moments to think about nutrition, scope out new products, and of course, make cupcakes - ha! These are all things I will need to do for my little guy anyway once he gets those chompers.
There is a blog called quirky cupcake that has a cupcake contest every month based on a theme ingredient - May’s ingredient was cocoa powder. I absolutely had to participate, seeing as I love to make chocolate cupcakes with chocolate frosting using organic fairtrade cocoa powder (my brand of choice right now is cocoa camino). To make it even more about the cocoa, I topped them with natural chocolate sprinkles and shasha bread company cocoa snap hearts, which are both also made with cocoa powder. I call these cupcakes - cocoa loco!

 

a pregnant girl’s breakfast treat

Multigrain bagel toasted, spread with almond butter and a bit of nutella swirled in, generously sprinkled with ground flaxseeds. It’s all good.

 

perfectly pink smoothie

One banana, a handful of frozen raspberries, 4 spoonfuls of yogurt, a few splashes of pineapple juice, a sprinkling of flaxseeds. A perfectly pink drink to lift the spirits on a chilly, blustery day.

 

morning lemon - a soothing natural cold remedy

When I was young and had a cold, my Mom would fix me a simple drink of lemon, honey and hot water. Like always, Moms know best - why reach for something like NeoCitran which contains some nasty non-medicinal ingredients (here’s a little sample: D&C yellow No. 10, FD&C yellow No. 6, flavours) when all you may need is a vitamin C blast from the lemon, and some antibacterial goodness and energy from the honey to get you feeling better. Plus, it’s really the warm steamy liquid itself that goes a long way in soothing your body and soul.

What could be easier:
- slice up some lemon, squeeze and throw slices into cup
- add a generous squeeze of honey
- add just before boiled water and stir
- enjoy!

 

december views - everythings gone green

Bonus pic: shocking green smoothie!
recipe: two bananas, 1 cup vanilla almond milk, two handfuls chopped up kale, tablespoon flaxseed, squeeze of honey - whiz it up!

 

product newsflash - naturally coloured candy canes

I have to interrupt the silence of December views to let you know about a great product - naturally coloured and flavoured candy canes made by Pure Fun, who have made an appearance on this blog before. I took a special trip to Whole Foods the other day, and was rewarded when I turned the corner into the salad bar section and saw a huge display of these beauties. I was so excited to try them - they taste great. It’s so nice to know you can eat something fun and sweet this time of year and not worry about the artificial colouring. And the price is not bad - $2.99 for a pack of 12 is definitely worth it to me. So I thought I’d share this photo of cupcakes I made for our neighbours using the candy canes as a topping on peppermint frosting. Unfortunately I did not get to taste one of these lovelies this time around, but have been told they were yummy!

 

morning lemon - lemon tomato?

When I was at the
St. Lawrence Farmer’s Market Saturday, I just couldn’t resist the lure of this bright sunny tomato. I’ve seen yellow tomatoes around, but never tried any. We asked the vendor what the difference was in taste from a red tomato, and he said they were milder, and people who have trouble digesting raw red tomatoes would find these easier to eat. Hallelujah! I have tummy trouble with raw tomatoes - cooked is usually not an issue. So I was eager to try these yellow gems. They are a bit more mealy textured, but this actually helps in some recipes, like salads, so the pieces are more firm and not falling apart. The colour definitely brightens up any dish.
So what’s the lemon connection besides being yellow? There are several varieties of yellow tomatoes with lemon in the name - lemon boy and lemon drops are two I have seen while googling.
Do you have a favorite “lemon” variety of yellow tomato, or a favorite way to use yellow tomatoes? Please share!

 

type 2 diabetes - me?

So far, my pregnancy has been relatively free of challenges. I had very little morning sickness, have not had a lot of headaches, pain, or any other irritations or complications. Last week I went for a standard Glucose Challenge Test, and my result came back one value above “normal”. This Monday, I am going for a 3-hour Glucose Tolerance Test, to see if I possibly have Gestational Diabetes - which is not necessarily a very bad thing for the pregnancy, but can be a predictor of my chance of developing type 2 diabetes later in life.

WOW. This really kind of came at me out of left field. Here I am, a nutritionist, who learned all about these tests, and diets to manage blood glucose, but never imagined that I would be the one living it. I am hoping that my values come back normal on Monday, but at least I feel I am armed with my knowledge to make changes that I need to if I am predisposed. It truly goes to show that sometimes, you think you are doing (mostly) all the right things, but there can always be other factors at play. And also - no one is perfect, no one is completely immune to issues.

If nothing else, I felt a bit of a kick in the pants to take a bit of a closer look at my diet of recent days, hence the oatmeal breakfast pictured above. Oatmeal with apples and raisins and cinnamon - which is pretty good as far as glycemic index goes (foods with low-medium G.I. values are what people prone to high blood glucose issues need to focus on) - and the cinnamon has been shown to be helpful in managing blood glucose levels. And of course, it tastes great, and was relatively quick to make - what have I got to lose by taking those extra 10 minutes?