Strawberries are among the first spring fruits to appear in our local markets here in New York City. Strawberries are good additions to spring cleansing recipes. Fresh fruit, including strawberries, are packed with enzymes that your body needs for cleansing, healing and beautification. Strawberries are also rich in free radical-fighting vitamin C. If you too are looking for a few more ways to celebrate all the sweet and juicy strawberries just arriving in your market this spring, give a few of these recipes a try. I highly recommend the strawberry parfait…it’s a favorite of mine! I look forward to hearing from you!

5 Healthy Strawberry Recipes

]]> http://www.greenlemonade.com/cleanse-your-body/strawberry-recipes/feed/ 0 http://www.greenlemonade.com/recipes-juices/chia-seed-pudding-recipe-strawberry/ http://www.greenlemonade.com/recipes-juices/chia-seed-pudding-recipe-strawberry/#disqus_thread Thu, 17 May 2012 16:28:20 +0000 noelle http://www.greenlemonade.com/?p=13743

If Spring has got you inspired to dial up your healthy factor at breakfast, give this Strawberry Chia Seed Pudding a try.

More chia seed recipes

You might also appreciate this Strawberry-Banana Smoothie made with chia seeds. This Banana Chia Seed Pudding is also simple and easy to make. Grab the recipe here!

Health beauties will tell you that to feel your best you really need to keep hydrated by drinking more water. Some beauties (like this one) also highlight that water speeds up your metabolism by 33 percent and burns 100 calories per day. Cleansing divas also sing to you about the benefits of water to help flush crud from your body.

If you’re looking for a way to drink more water, this simple lemonade may be just the ticket. If you had stopped by my house this Saturday, you would have found me curled up in a chair with a glass of it. I love this lemonade because it is so simple to make. All you need is water, lemon, ice and a dash of sweetener like Stevia or a good honey. I like to make a big jug in a Ball jar and sip on it throughout the morning.

New to Green Lemonade?

As many of you beauties know, my goal each week at Green Lemonade is to celebrate easy, natural, everyday ways to cleanse, restore and rejuvenate your body, your mind and pretty much anything around you. The benefit of removing crud you ask? Over time, crud can weigh on your happiness, your energy and sometimes even your thighs. Learn more here.

Over the past few years, I’ve started to shop more frequently in the produce section of my local market. I’ve found that when I eat more fresh produce including leafy green lettuces, crunchy vegetables and some sweet fruit, my eyes are brighter, my skin glows, I feel calmer ⎯and quite honestly ⎯happier. With my son now eating solid foods, I’ve been doing my best to make a few things with fresh ingredients that we can both enjoy together.

I love the following recipes because no matter the age of your baby, they work for everyone. When I first started introducing my son to solids, I made sure to purée these ingredients quite well. Now that he has a few teeth and is capable of some chewing, I still make many of these breakfast purées, but I toss in some finely diced fruit too. In my experience, each of these purées will save in your fridge for up to three days.

Baby Purées

Breakfast pudding

This is a creamy avocado pudding made with pineapple and basil. Sometimes I’ll toss in a handful of spinach, and a tablespoon of hemp seeds (for an added protein and iron boost). If I’m really on my game, I’ll also mix in a ¼ teaspoon of Udo’s Oil (which supports healthy brain and eye development). Learn more about hemp seeds and Udo’s Oil here and here.


• Banana Chia Seed Pudding

  Health divas love the versatility of chia seeds. Chia seeds are rich in fiber and Omega-3 fatty acids. Omega-3 fatty acids are believed to support healthy skin, hair and joints. In addition, Omega-3s are valued for their ability to fight heart disease, support a healthy immune system and help protect against abnormal blood clotting. Chia seeds are also believed to be useful in the fight against depression. I’ll make this pudding with a dash of maple syrup for myself but I’ll leave it out when I share it with my baby.
  

• Breakfast mango guacamole

  This guacamole is great on its own and sometimes I’ll add a teaspoon of chia seeds.
  

Don’t have a little one? You don’t need a baby to enjoy these recipes. Puréed foods and smoothies are great for all of us⎯particularly at breakfast. A nutritious, blended meal is easy for your body to digest. This allows more of your body’s energy to be spent on healing, beautification and slimming work (rather than digestion all the time). That’s why you’ll find a lot of beauties enjoying smoothies, particularly for breakfast. Your body’s fat burning work is believed to peak before noon.

New to Green Lemonade?

As many of you beauties know, my goal each week at Green Lemonade is to celebrate easy, natural, everyday ways to cleanse, restore and rejuvenate your body, your mind and pretty much anything around you. The benefit of removing crud you ask? Over time, crud can weigh on your happiness, your energy and sometimes even your thighs. Learn more here.

* Family image above taken by the team at New York Magazine on Mother’s Day.

Up until recently, as many of you know, I avoided making artichokes at home because they felt a little “high maintenance”. But now that I’ve committed to roasting them in this easy three-step sequence, a few of them have been sneaking into my fridge over the last few weeks. I’ve been enjoying them individually as well as in this Artichoke Paella.

More healthy recipes

New to vegetarian lunches and dinners? Consider celebrating a day filled with veggie-centric meals one day a week as a gentle way to boost your body’s natural feel-good work. Learn more here. You might also appreciate these feel-good recipes.

• Beet Burgers
• Baja-Style Vegetarian Tortilla Soup
• Warm Lentil Salad with Carrot Ribbons, Parsley and Thyme
• Vegetarian Ancho Chili Recipe
• Quinoa Recipes with Vegetables
• Creamy Vegetable Soup (without the cream)
• Vibrant Tricolore Salad
• 5 Easy Raw Salad Recipes
• Healthy Raw Food Breakfast Recipes
• 6 Detox Smoothie Recipes

Many hugs to all the mothers out there. I hope you have a beautiful weekend and a great Mother’s Day.

Weekly article round up

The following are a few of the articles I enjoyed reading this week.

• How To Sleep Better – Fit Sugar




• How To Run Faster – Health




• Health Advice From Moms – Blisstree




• Chlorophyll: The great detoxer – Well and Good NYC




• Running Playlist – Fit Bottomed Girls




• 3 Cross-Fit Total Body Workouts – Self




• How To Do The Perfect Pushup – Huffington Post




• So What Exactly Is Functional Exercise? – Shape

New to Green Lemonade?

As many of you beauties know, my goal each week at Green Lemonade is to celebrate easy, natural, everyday ways to cleanse, restore and rejuvenate your body, your mind and pretty much anything around you. The benefit of removing crud you ask? Over time, crud can weigh on your happiness, your energy and sometimes even your thighs….

• Learn more about Green Lemonade
• Cleansing 101

This spring make sure and add a mint bouquet to your shopping basket. Mint pairs well with some of spring’s most popular fruit and veggies including: strawberries, asparagus, artichokes and apricots. As you beauties know, eating more fresh produce is one of the best ways to naturally rejuvenate your body. You see the benefits of eating more of these foods in younger looking skin and a healthy body.

Try a few leaves of fresh mint tucked into a roast artichoke dish, a fresh strawberry fruit salad, baked breakfast apricots or an asparagus and mint quinoa salad. You’ll find health beauties enjoying lots of fresh mint⎯beyond ice tea⎯because it is a wonderful digestive aid (a key part of a feel-good, look-young lifestyle). It’s also a great natural breath freshener when nibbled on its own!

Simple Mint Recipes

Here are a few more ways I’ve been embracing fresh mint this spring. How about you? How do you like to use mint?

• Creamy Mint Sauce drizzled on a sliced apple
• Pasta with Zucchini and Mint
• Kale Smoothie with Mint
• Watercress Smoothie (with a few mint leaves)
• Breakfast Pudding (with a few mint leaves)

New to Green Lemonade?

As many of you beauties know, my goal each week at Green Lemonade is to celebrate easy, natural, everyday ways to cleanse, restore and rejuvenate your body, your mind and pretty much anything around you. The benefit of removing crud you ask? Over time, crud can weigh on your happiness, your energy and sometimes even your thighs. Learn more here.

Over the past few weeks, a gaggle of family and friends have been passing through New York. It’s been a lot of fun. And as always when festiveness takes over my house, delicious treats from the neighborhood bakery proudly parade through the front door and bottles of wine take over my fridge. I get so excited and sometimes I forget that too many sweets these days gives me a sugar hangover. It’s kind of embarassing, actually. So I do my best to include a variety of different salads when I’m preparing a meal for friends and family. I find that when prepared in just the right way, brunch salads can be wonderfully satisfying and help me to avoid a post-brunch blowout!

How about you? Do you like to serve salads at brunch?

More healthy recipes

You might also appreciate these feel-good recipes.

• Parmesan Kale Salad
• Beet Burgers
• Baja-Style Vegetarian Tortilla Soup
• Warm Lentil Salad with Carrot Ribbons, Parsley and Thyme
• Vegetarian Ancho Chili Recipe
• Quinoa Recipes with Vegetables
• Creamy Vegetable Soup (without the cream)
• Vibrant Tricolore Salad
• 5 Easy Raw Salad Recipes
• Healthy Raw Food Breakfast Recipes
• 6 Detox Smoothie Recipes

When I started eating more veggie-centric meals, I was worried about what to eat to get enough protein. Eating more vegetarian meals definitely takes a touch more thought in order to put together a balanced diet. It gets a little easier as you eat this way more often. If you are looking to get an idea of what a high protein, meat-free day might look like, here is a little insight into one of my days. It includes 70g of protein sourced largely from

- steel cut oatmeal (~12g per 1/2 cup⎯dry),
- lentils (12g, 170c per 1/4 cup⎯dry),
- almonds (6g, 160 calories) and
- greek yogurt (16g, 120c).

The government guidelines suggest about 45-60 grams as a minimum protein range for a normal, active woman. I’ll admit on some days it takes less thought for me to get my protein through a good protein powder. But a girl can’t live on protein powder alone! Additionally, nestled among these foods are also plenty of dark leafy green lettuces. I find that the lettuces make the most difference in the texture and glow of my skin; They also keep me feeling happy and energized.

As many of you know, more and more beauties are embracing meatless meals as a way to boost their body’s natural rejuvenation and feel-good work. Heavier foods, including steak and hamburgers, require more of your body’s energy to digest. This ultimately limits the amount of time your body spends on its beauty work. Learn more here.

Sources of protein for vegetarians

• Breakfast

  Bowl of steel cut oatmeal (~12g, 300c) with 1 cup almond milk ( 1g, 60c), cinnamon, nutmeg and vanilla OR

  Strawberry smoothie with a scoop of vegetarian protein powder (13g, 130c), 2 tablespoons of chia seeds (3g protein, 70c) and 1 cup almond milk ( 1g, 60c) – Total: 17g protein

  

• Mid-morning snack

  Handful of sliced almonds (6g, 160 calories) – Total: 6g protein

• Lunch

  Parmesan Kale Salad with 2 cups kale (2g) and a serving of this Vegetarian Ancho Chili (~6g, 400c) – Total: 8g protein
  

• Afternoon snack

  Lara raw bar (5g, ~200c) and/or small container greek yogurt (16g, 120c) OR

  fruit-free, vegetarian protein shake with cucumber, almond milk, stevia and ice (20g, 100c) – Total: 25g protein

• Dinner

  Tricolore salad and 2 small Lentil Burgers with Sourdough Breadcrumbs (13g, 400c) – Total: 13g protein
  Total for day: 69g protein
  

• Learn more

  You might also appreciate these articles on protein.

  • How Much Protein Do You Need In a Rejuvenating Diet Lifestyle?
  • More Thoughts on Your Protein Needs

  
  

• More vegetarian recipes

  You might also appreciate these feel-good recipes.

  • Beet Burgers
  • Baja-Style Vegetarian Tortilla Soup
  • Warm Lentil Salad with Carrot Ribbons, Parsley and Thyme
  • Vegetarian Ancho Chili Recipe
  • Quinoa Recipes with Vegetables
  • Creamy Vegetable Soup (without the cream)
  • Vibrant Tricolore Salad
  • 5 Easy Raw Salad Recipes
  • Healthy Raw Food Breakfast Recipes
  • 6 Detox Smoothie Recipes

  
  

If you are like me and shy away from artichokes because they feel “high maintenance” this sequence is for you. Today more and more health beauties are embracing artichokes for their antioxidant properties which are believed to help detox your liver and purify your skin.

Both the larger artichokes and the baby artichokes work beautifully here.

How To Eat An Artichoke

• Step 1

  Pre-heat your oven to 400F degrees. In a baking pan, combine the juice of a lemon and 3 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil.

• Step 2

  Trim ~1” off the top of the artichoke. Then, trim the stem down so its about 1” long.
  (Some beauties clip the tips of the leaves with cooking sheers, I usually don’t.)







• Step 3

  Cut the artichoke into quarters. Then make a 45 degree cut in the middle of each of the quarters to remove the inedible fuzzy part (covering the artichoke heart). Try and be as precise as possible so you don’t remove too much of the heart! Toss with olive oil and lemon juice in a baking pan. Season with salt and pepper. Bake (covered) for 20-25 minutes until the artichoke is fork tender. Remove cover during the last 2-3 minutes to brown.

  When you eat the artichoke quarters, pull apart the outer leaves and nibble off the tender meat from the bottom of each leaf. The inner leaves are tender enough to enjoy in one big bite along with the heart of the artichoke.
  Enjoy!