Real Food Friday Feast - Breakfast Smoothie

Doctors, dieticians and nutritionists have always maintained that breakfast is the most important meal of the day. While I think all meals are pretty important, I do agree that skipping breakfast leads to a lot more weight problems. I can't survive without breakfast. I open my eyes and my stomach literally yells for food;) But I struggled a bit with what to have for breakfast when I made a decision to cut out processed foods.

If you walk down the cereal aisle you are literally bombarded with every kind of cereal under the sun. The problem with those cereals is that 99% of them are loaded with sugar (usually GMO corn syrup), and ALL of them are grains with NO exceptions. They are rice-based, or maize-based or oat-based and the rest of the ingredients are sugar, sugar and more sugar, and then add a few of those nice coded foods that no-one understands like E61 and E500. I don't think that starting your day off with a carbo load of GMO grains and a whole bunch of other scientifically generated "foods", is a great way to start it.

I've cut most grains out of my life since I discovered they were largely responsible for my IBS flaring up. If I have them now, I'll make sure they're properly soaked and they must be organic obviously;) If you cut grains out of your life, that leaves very little for the "normal" breakfast options. I don't need to eat "normal" food so that doesn't bother me, but GLM is my little creature of habit and is not a fan of change;) There are some things she will go along with, but some things are just a no-go!

One breakfast meal that has always been a winner for her, however, is the breakfast smoothie. I have been making breakfast smoothies for years but, in the last year, the recipe has changed quite drastically. It used to be a very boring combination of banana, apple, almonds, protein shake and soya milk (Can't believe I bought into the propaganda and drank that poison! I'll blog on that at some point too but, take my word for it, avoid it. Especially if you are trying to have a baby. It's loaded with GMO and hormones.) So anyway, that smoothie was pretty average nutrition-wise but it didn't taste too bad.

Enter the organic, super, real food era and how things have changed;) GLM sometimes asks what happened to our "normal" smoothie? (Creature of habit;) You see, what I have realised is that a breakfast smoothie is the EASIEST and TASTIEST way to get most of your fruit and vegetable daily requirements into your body, in one go. Our breakfast smoothie has replaced our multivitamin because it is loaded with all the natural vitamins we need. It is a powerhouse of goodness all in one glass and it's so easy to make, and eat on the run. There are a lot of websites out there by people who have cured cancer with diet and most of them talk about smoothies and juicing. But these are not just any smoothies and juices, they are supercharged, power nutrition in a glass.

So I am going to give you my recipe, but please bear in mind that this is just ONE way to make it. You can add as much variety as you like, depending on your tastes. Don't be put off by the colour. That will depend on the colour of the food you use but it'll still taste amazing. The more different colours you use, the more nutrition you will get out of it. 

You will need a decent blender (a hand blender will work well too.) 

Power Breakfast Smoothie (feeds 2)

1 raw Banana (medium size)
1 raw baby marrow (medium size)
1 raw patty pan
2 tsp peeled ginger root (or just a nice size chunk)

4 Tbs paw paw
2 Tbs soaked organic chia seeds
1/4 avocado pear
2 tsp organic cocoa powder
4 eggs OR 2 eggs and 125ml organic plain yoghurt
2 Tbs dehydrated coconut
2 slices pineapple
Add water to get a nice consistency

Method

• Throw all ingredients into blender EXCEPT chia seeds, adding liquid last.
• Blend till smooth
• Pour into 2 separate glasses
• Add a tablespoon of chia seeds to each glass and mix in
• Drink!

As I said, these ingredients are not carved in stone. You can replace the fruits with other fruits and the veggies with other veggies. I recommend keeping the coconut, ginger, cocoa powder, avocado (it gives the smoothie a lovely, creamy consistency) and chia seeds, but play around with the rest depending on availability and taste preference. You CAN use milk instead of yogurt. Both are a good source of protein. You can even JUST use milk instead of the eggs. As long as you have some protein in there. Bear in mind that eggs are a GREAT source of nutrition (provided they are free range) and are NOT public enemy number one for those with high cholesterol as some people keep insisting. If you are a vegetarian you can leave out the eggs and milk and just use water but you will need a bit more protein in there so I would add a handful of properly soaked nuts and perhaps a scoop of vegetarian protein powder. 

Some of you may be wondering about chia seeds. These little seeds are like magic seeds;) They are so good for you! They contain your daily dose of Omegas all in one little tablespoon. You can buy them at dischem and all health shops as well. They look like this when they are dry:

And like this when you make them into gel:

Why would you want to make them into gel? Well, they go so much further and they're easier to work with. They are mostly tasteless little seeds but they are good for so many things. 

• Omega 3's - Help reduce inflammation, enhance cognitive performance and reduce high cholesterol
• Fibre - Reduces inflammation, lowers cholesterol and regulates bowel function
• Antioxidants - Help protect the body from free radicals, ageing and cancer
• Minerals - Two tablespoons of chia seeds contain 18% of the daily recommended intake for calcium, 35% for phosphorus, 24% for magnesium and about 50% for manganese
• Satiety - They make you feel full for longer
• They are gluten free
• They make a good egg replacer when baking for those who can't eat eggs
• Blood sugar regulation - They play an important role in regulating insulin levels and can reduce insulin resistance and decrease abnormally high levels of insulin in the blood.
• Raise energy levels

See why you would want to eat these? Making them into gel is really easy. Get a clean glass jar and place 3 tablespoons of seeds in the jar. Fill the jar up with filtered water, all the way to the top and stir with a fork. Leave for a few minutes and then stir again. You'll notice they will clump up a bit. That's because they absorb the water and start to swell. Leave for a bit and then stir again to break up the clumps. Eventually the jar will be filled with chia seed gel and no more clumps and then you simply add a tablespoon of those to each smoothie. You can add them to anything really. You won't notice the taste at all, but you'll feel the health benefits! And that jar will last a week or two in your fridge.

That's it! I recommend eating at least one of these smoothies a day, but you are welcome to have more!

Real Food Friday Feast - Banana Bread

This is the first of many Friday posts, all related to my real food recipe for the week. Why banana bread, you ask? Well, simply because it's my FAVOURITE cake:) I went without it for many years thinking it could only be made with wheat flour and, as an IBS sufferer, I couldn't eat wheat, so that meant no banana bread. It was hard, I can't lie!

At first I played around with a few different flours like spelt flour and rice flour, but I find I battle with most grains, and they tend not to rise very well either, so they weren't really working for me. I always found that the recipes included stuff I'd rather not be eating as well and, as I'm not much of a baker, I really needed a recipe to follow that was tried and tested.

One day, while I was googling (something as common to me as breathing in case you hadn't guessed) I happened upon a link that mentioned grain-free cake. It immediately hooked my interest for obvious reasons! Intrigued, I clicked on the link and discovered a recipe using...

I didn't know it existed either!

Here are some of the benefits of using coconut flour:

• It is rich in protein, fibre and fat which makes it really filling. 
• It is also a good source of lauric acid, a saturated fat thought to support the immune system and the thyroid. Like most healthy fats, lauric acid also promotes good skin health. 
• It is an very good source of manganese which helps you to better utilize many nutrients such as choline and biotin (found in eggs), vitamin C and thiamin. Manganese also supports bone health, nervous system function, thyroid health and helps to maintain optimal blood sugar levels.
• It isn't grain-based, and so, doesn't present many of the issues that accompany grains for people with grain allergies or intolerances, such as myself. 
• It is gluten-free and, while it does contain food phytate, the mineral-binding effects of phytates in coconut are virtually non-existent which means that coconut flour doesn't need to be soaked (but that is something I will cover in another post!)

So, the recipe I found was NOT for banana bread unfortunately but I was undeterred! I now knew what I needed to do. The hunt for coconut flour was ON!

It actually wasn't too hard to find! I am a frequenter of Fruit and Roots in Bryanston and it was the first place I thought of when I headed off on my search. They specialise in all things organic and natural and they also, conveniently, have a 20% off sale every last Thursday of the month. Coconut flour is pricey to be honest. But an upside to it is that you use far less than you would normal flour. For example, if the recipe said you needed 2 cups of normal flour, you'd only need about 1/2 a cup of coconut flour. It's highly absorbent and too much flour will dry out a recipe. The general rule, when baking with coconut flour, is to add extra moisture in the form of eggs or milk or even fruit juice.

I did some more googling and found a few recipes for banana bread and then the experimenting started! Not only was I a coconut flour newbie, but I also needed to figure out a recipe that suited my organic, healthy needs. That meant no refined sugar or vegetable oils or margarine. I also couldn't do cow's milk and I didn't want just normal baking powder because that's full of aluminium. (FYI) I found an aluminium free baking powder at Fruit and Roots again:)

There were a couple of different types but this one was the most affordable.

I tried quite a few different recipes. Most of them ended up coming out very dry and hard and FLAT. They didn't rise at ALL. My wife (we'll call her GLM), angel that she is, dutifully told me every time that it was DELICIOUS, bless her heart;) But I was NOT satisfied. I knew I could do better and wanted it to taste like my mom's banana bread used to taste. There HAD to be a way.

One day, I decided to add a teaspoon of bicarb to the mix and VOILA! The perfect banana bread:) I was overjoyed and, this time, GLM could honestly say that it was delicious;) 

Before I give you the recipe, I need to stipulate that ALL the ingredients used in this are either organic or free range. Oh, and there is only ONE raw honey that I use. It is THE BEST honey in all the world and I buy it by the crate direct from the farmer. I refuse to eat any other. If you would like to order some, please email me: mellowhealth@melanielowe.co.za

Without further ado, here is the recipe: 

Grain-Free Banana Bread with Coconut Flour

4 eggs
2 Tbs honey
1/3 cup salted butter or coconut oil (if not salted butter add ¼ tsp salt to recipe)
2 or 3 (depending on the size) very ripe bananas, mashed
3 full Tbs plain yogurt
3/4 cup coconut flour

1 tsp baking powder 

1 tsp bicarbonate of soda

Method

• Whisk up the eggs, honey, butter, yoghurt and mashed bananas 
• Sift flour, baking powder and bicarb into the batter and stir until completely mixed 
• Pour into a greased loaf tin and bake in a pre-heated oven (175°C/350°F) for 40-50 minutes 

NOTE: Please keep an eye on your loaf because my oven has a door that doesn't close properly and I have had to play around with temperature and time to avoid over or under cooking it! Stick a toothpick in and it should come out clean.

Here are a few really nice ideas to make it more interesting and delicious!

• You can make it a chocolate banana bread by adding 3-4 Tbs organic cocoa powder 
• Make it a cinnamon banana bread by adding 1 tsp organic ground cinnamon 
• Make it a ginger banana bread by adding 1 tsp organic ground ginger
• Give it an extra omega 3, crunchy boost by adding 2 Tbs of flaxseeds
• I also occasionally add a handful of dried cranberries and the same can be done with raisins or nuts

Honestly, once you have mastered your banana bread, the sky is the limit. I tried an apple and cinnamon loaf this morning and it is YUMMY!

A slice of this banana bread has only 6 grams of protein, 9 grams of fat and 18 grams of carbs! That will alter slightly depending on what fruit you use, but it will still be low in calories at only 170 calories a slice. You  can triple all those amounts if you use a grain flour like wheat and even more if you use normal, refined sugar. The amazing thing is that every single calorie of this banana bread is GOOD FOR YOU. Kinda blows your mind a bit huh?

If you find coconut flour is out of your price range, fear not! I have since discovered chickpea flour! 

It is also a grain-free flour and it is a lot more economically viable. It DOES give your baked goods a slightly nuttier flavour but I enjoy it and hopefully you will too! You will just need to alter the recipe slightly with the chickpea flour and these are the changes below:

Grain Free Banana Bread with Chickpea flour

3 eggs
2 Tbs honey
1/3 cup salted butter or coconut oil (if not salted butter add ¼ tsp salt to recipe)
2 or 3 (depending on the size) very ripe bananas, mashed
2 full Tbs plain yogurt
11/2 cups chickpea flour

1 tsp baking powder 

1 tsp bicarbonate of soda

You will use the same method to make this one.

The nice thing about chickpea flour is that you can buy it at dischem. In fact, dischem is going to become your favourite shopping place for all your organic needs;) What's really handy about Dischem is that they have a loyalty card system. Not only do they use the money you spend to help various charities, but you also get rewarded with money back. There is an added advantage for FNB bankers in that you can shop there with your ebucks. I love shopping at places that reward you:) And I really like that dischem has good ethics when it comes to protecting their customers, animals and the planet.

I have plenty of other suppliers that I get all of my organic goodies from. It has been a journey of discovery over the last year and I have slowly but surely built up a good, solid list of organic suppliers and nothing would give me greater pleasure than to bring them all business! I think they deserve it given all that they are doing for a healthier world. That will be a blog post for next week!

Please let me know how your banana bread turns out! Happy baking:)