A friend recently asked me for some smoothie recipe suggestions and it got me thinking. My routine these days is to have a green smoothie every other morning, and I’ve been playing it safe so far. The same tried and true ratio each time:

• 1 banana
• 1 big handful spinach or kale
• 1/2 cup fruit (usually frozen berries or frozen mango)
• 1 cup almond milk or water
• 1 scoop brown rice protein powder
• 1 tbsp ground flax
• goji berries sprinkled on top

Deeeeeelicious, filling, and energizing – all good things! I call it the Green Angel Smoothie and I suggest you give it a try before you wrinkle your nose at the idea.

However, it’s important to break out of your routine from time to time, especially when it comes to breakfast, as most people find they eat exactly the same thing every morning (or in some cases, don’t eat anything at all). So I decided to mix it up this morning and create a chocolatey orangey smoothie, still green, but with chia seeds instead of protein powder. You can see my concoction at the end of this post. I discovered a similar recipe on Pinterest (where else these days?) which has become my new favorite time-waster. Instead of a long boring list of bookmarked recipes I want to save from around the web, I love the visual bookmarking Pinterest provides. So I urge you to use yours as a place to be inspired for recipes, even if you’re not the most confident cook!

Back to the smoothies. Whether you have a state-of-the-art Vitamix or a basic blender, smoothies are so easy and quick, they give us no excuses about skipping breakfast. Rather than the overly sweet stuff you might find at a Jamba Juice or Boost Juice, this is a golden opportunity to add in booster foods and leafy greens where you’d otherwise forget or avoid them completely.

Elements of a Perfect Breakfast Smoothie

• The fruit you include (especially a banana) helps to mask the sometimes bitter flavors of leafy greens. While the greens may create an odd color, don’t let that put you off!
• Make sure to add protein. This will set you up with a load of energy for the whole day and will help to balance your blood sugar levels. Protein options for smoothies include: plain probiotic yogurt, hemp seeds, chia seeds, protein powders (I like Sun Warrior, organic whey, or Bauman College’s own Vital Scoop), spirulina or chlorella.
• Texture is key! Like a more liquidy smoothie? Add more liquid! Fancy something thicker? Less liquid, more frozen fruit – also fun to eat in a bowl with a spoon! If you need some crunch, top that smoothie with toasted seeds, goji berries, freeze-dried raspberries, toasted coconut flakes, or cacao nibs.
• This is your chance to get some much-needed fiber. I like to get my fiber via seeds, such as ground up flax, chia, or hemp. Luckily, these all blend up nicely and are barely noticeable in smoothies. However, chia and flax both swell when added to a liquid, which may make for a thicker smoothie if you let it sit for a little while.
• Get creative! Come up with a combination of smoothie ingredients that follow a theme. I created the Sunshine Smoothie for a recent workshop I gave on Winter Blues: all of the fruit involved is yellow, making for a beautiful breakfast! It includes frozen mango, banana, pineapple, apricots, and lemon zest. Feeling adventurous? Add half an avocado instead of a banana for great smoothness without the sweetness.
• Stock up on frozen fruits. Most grocery stores sell bags of chopped frozen fruit or berries at great prices. Mango will offer a sweeter and smoother mixture, berries will add texture and a rich color, sour cherries bring a tangy tartness. Best of all, they last for months, so you’ll always have access to the base of a great smoothie.

Still need more inspiration? Whole Living have a wonderful slideshow of beautiful smoothies just perfect for breakfast. My friend Gabriela occasionally tweets her awesome green smoothie concoctions. And the Green Monster Movement is just filled with recipes. Go forward and blend!

See the tags at the top of this post? They say things like “wheatfree”, “vegan”, sometimes “raw”? They correspond to how the recipe within this post could be categorized, making it easier for people who describe themselves as vegan, for example, to find it and (hopefully) make it. But I’d never call this blog “vegan” or “glutenfree” or any of the labels used to describe “alternative” food. Why? Because it’s limiting and detracts from my hopes for this blog. I’m far more concerned with getting you to cook REAL food than converting you to some alternative lifestyle.

Many people who describe themselves as vegan are doing so for moral and ethical reasons which stretch far beyond what goes on their plate. Yet the scope of vegan cooking has expanded to a colossal size in the past couple of years, thanks to popular vegan baking books, a rise in allergies to dairy and eggs, and a general shift in our attitude towards eating meat.

So, if one of my recipes doesn’t include any animal products or byproducts, I’m going to label it “vegan”, but I’d never label myself that way. For one thing, while I don’t eat much meat these days, I do still have it on occasion, especially if it’s good quality, raised humanely, pastured, and/or organic. I eat fish. And dairy products from goats, sheep, and buffalo. And honey. And I wear leather shoes and haven’t checked whether the makeup I wear is tested on animals. And guess what? I don’t feel guilty about any of that! Any lifestyle that does isn’t worth following in my opinion.

That’s where The Particular Kitchen comes into play. It’s a name that doesn’t set ground rules or boundaries because, when it comes to your health and especially your diet, there shouldn’t be any. As I mentioned in a blog post two weeks ago, my dietary habits have changed recently and for the better! Nobody wants to feel restricted by the food they eat. I didn’t wake up one morning and decide: “Starting today, I’m going to avoid eating dairy, eggs, soy, meat, gluten on occasion, and refined sugar so I can make life really difficult for myself and anyone preparing a meal for me.” Just like the hundreds of other food bloggers out there who have an allergy or intolerance or health issue brought on through diet and have to cut things out to feel better. Of course, some do make that choice, and have their justifiable reasons for doing so.

What this all boils down to is very simple: eat the food that keeps you at your healthiest. Food should sustain your energy, nourish you, leave you feeling satisfied and not overstuffed. It should be something that brings you joy, encourages you to be creative, gathers your friends and family. Most of the time, it should be food you prepare yourself, that’s grown nearby, appropriate to the current season, without the use of harsh chemicals and hormones. What you feed yourself should give you pride and comfort, not shame or irritation. It shouldn’t define who you are – it should change on a daily basis.

And best of all, it should provide you with a sense of indulgence from time to time. While I’m firmly anti-High Fructose Corn Syrup, I’m strongly pro-treat. A lot of the recipes on this website are of the dessert variety. Simply put, if you want to eat something sweet, why not a) make it yourself and b) have something that makes you feel good too?

Even though Valentine’s Day has come and gone, there is still occasion to have chocolate now and then. And I stumbled upon a recipe good enough to pin (and subsequently make). Black Bean Truffles, adapted ever so slightly from a recipe at So Good and Tasty. I won’t try and convince you of their brilliance – just read Jacqui’s description. They’re amazing. And leave you with a feeling of pride and satisfaction that you won’t get from buying a box of chocolates.

Tuesday is Valentine’s Day, which means we’ve been swimming in a sea of pink and red and hearts and roses for far too long now. Is it just me, or is the bombardment of Valentine’s-themed junk reaching an all-time high this year? Every day I keep seeing more nonsense for sale online and in the shops, mostly made out of chocolate or flowers.

This year, to celebrate all things romance, why not make something good to eat? I’ve got two recipes here that are completely non-conventional and yet totally sexy. After reading up on aphrodisiac foods, and after taking stock of the ingredients we had at home, the following soup and dessert were created on a whim and completely on the fly. I’m getting much more comfortable cooking without first consulting a recipe to adapt. The dessert in particular is a romantic one because it was a collaboration between my husband and I; he made up the cookies, I whipped up the cream, and a beautiful love cookie sandwich was born.

Forget the oysters and champagne. This year it’s all about truffle oil and cacao.

Truffles are a luxury and a joy. While I can’t say I’ve ever prepared a meal at home with fresh truffles, I certainly love to drizzle black truffle oil on special meals to finish them off. If you’re planning on cooking this Valentine’s Day, consider picking up a bottle of truffle oil to add another dimension to your meal. Apparently, they’re the most potent aphrodisiac for women because their musky scent mimics that of male pheromones. And your sexy truffle-scented food will be super impressive considering the fact that the most expensive truffle in history was sold for over $160,000! Of course, a small bottle of truffle-infused olive oil will cost quite a lot less, but just make sure you pick up the real thing (containing real truffles rather than just the scent). I used a black truffle oil to drizzle on this creamy carrot soup.

Cacao, of course, is the reason chocolate is always given as a romantic gift. The science behind the aphrodisiac properties lies in the raw cacao bean. It contains theobromine, which stimulates our pleasure-seeking neurotransmitters, much like caffeine. It also contains magnesium, a calming mineral and a hormone balancer. Sorry, but you’re not going to find this good stuff in a bag of M&Ms. Go for at least 70% cacao dark chocolate, or better yet, pick up some raw chocolate. Even better than that, make it yourself (3 ingredients: raw cacao butter, raw cacao powder, raw honey)!

On Wednesday, I made apple pie.

I’ve made apple pie before, but never like this. If this was 6 years ago, I wouldn’t have hesitated to buy a pre-made pie crust and a can of sugary apple pie filling and call it a day. Who doesn’t love the convenience of ready-made ingredients? But convenience doesn’t mean it’s a better product. In fact, more often than not, it’s the most convenient foods that are the worst for our health. We may have saved half an hour in the kitchen, but we’re left with a huge deficit of nutrients and frankly a lack of skills!

Stepping out of our comfort zone isn’t easy, but it’s important every once in a while. In the case of the apple pie, my comfort zone was to not make a pie at all. I’m not confident enough to make my own pie crust, let alone a gluten-free pie crust that would be appropriate on my Renewal Detox. But I had quite a few cooking apples picked up at the market last weekend that needed using for something. So far this winter, all of the English Bramley apples I’ve bought have gone towards a spiced apple compote that I kept in jars in the fridge to go with breakfast. Sort of like a chunky applesauce with lots of warming spices, like cinnamon, cardamom, and cloves. A spoonful of that on a bowl of warm grains in the morning? There’s nothing like it. But this had become my comfort zone and it was time to face a new challenge. The elusive gluten-free pie crust. Not only that, I wanted to use whole foods ingredients (meaning as close to nature as possible) rather than a ready-made gluten-free flour mix or a margarine.

The added bonus: an egg. For those of you who don’t subscribe to my monthly newsletter (but you really should!), you might have missed the news that I’m back on eggs. I’ve been looking forward to experimenting with adding my sensitivity-causing foods back in again (after all, it’s been over 7 years), but of course there’s been some hesitation. It’s scary – I associate those foods with lots of negativity and unpleasantness. Out of the three foods, though, the one I’ve been most excited to re-introduce is the egg. So far, I’ve made three recipes involving eggs without any unusual symptoms. I consider this a resounding success! The rumors are true: you can absolutely heal yourself back to health after eliminating food sensitivities for a little while. I could have probably cut this time short and tried to reintroduce earlier but I’ve really only been focusing on eating for my health in the past year or two. Eliminating the foods you’re intolerant to is only half of the equation… what you put in is just as important, if not more so.

I think this gluten-free brown rice flour pie crust is great. All too often, a gluten-free baked good is dry, too crispy, too tough, too crumbly. This crust is flaky, light, sticks together well, and doesn’t give you that heavy bloated feeling after eating. I’ve used my favorite sweetener here, coconut sugar, but feel free to use an unrefined brown sugar (such as rapadura or sucanat). UK readers: I’d highly recommend Sweet Sensations or Red23 if you’re looking for raw coconut sugar. I also used creamy goat’s butter – not quite ready to jump back into cow’s milk yet (and not sure I miss it enough anyway), so my kitchen is still very “Particular”! However, if you’re a butter lover, look for the best you can find – grass-fed is gold!

I urge you to try stepping out of your food comfort zone and explore something new or foreign to you this week. Maybe it’s a recipe you’re nervous to try. Maybe it’s a new food you’ve heard or read about. It could even be a restaurant you’d like to explore that’s perhaps a different cuisine for you. Whatever the case, it feels good to challenge ourselves and to come out the other side feeling accomplished! This is so true for those of you like me with food sensitivities. While I’m not going to start eating omelettes every day, just knowing that I don’t have to avoid eggs (such an important and nutritious food source) feels really really good.

*Note: If you’re currently avoiding a food due to a sensitivity or allergy, I must recommend that you don’t re-introduce that food without first consulting a nutrition expert or a doctor. 
 

One of the most common mistakes people make with their health lies in their fear of fat. While there are plenty of reasons to avoid the “bad” fats, such as trans fats and hydrogenated oils, there are just as many reasons to consume the “good” fats, like the essential fatty acids (particularly Omega-3s) and polyunsaturated and monounsaturated fatty acids (aka PUFAs and MUFAs). But how to tell which are good and which are bad? Here’s some help…

Bad Fats

• trans fats (in fast food, fried food, and industrially processed & packaged foods)
• hydrogenated oils (margarine)
• vegetable oils (soy oil, corn oil)
• vegetable shortening (Crisco, Trex)

Good Fats

• extra virgin olive oil
• flax seeds and oil
• pumpkin seeds and oil
• hemp seeds and oil
• chia seeds
• walnuts
• almonds
• avocado
• virgin coconut oil
• sesame seeds and oil
• wild-caught cold water fish (salmon, mackerel, sardines, etc.)
• hazelnuts and oil
• pastured (grass-fed) beef and eggs and butter

Health Benefits

• Lower blood pressure
• Improve joint health
• Support brain function
• Anti-inflammatory, particularly for sufferers of arthritis and asthma
• Improve metabolic function and support weight loss
• Balance blood sugar

With all of this in mind, I made a deliciously fatty raw dessert a few days ago – one you can consume and feel good about. It contains cashews and walnuts, both of which have a wonderful amount of essential fatty acids. Cashews get a bad rap – everyone assumes they are full of fat and therefore unhealthy. While all nuts and seeds contain a large amount of fat, cashews in particular are made up of monounsaturated fats (MUFAs, remember?) – the same fatty acid found in olive oil. Of course, they are nutrient-dense, so you only need a small amount to get all that good stuff into your system.

That’s why I made some individual cream tarts. Pretty, right?

In addition to the cashew filling, the crust is made of walnuts, full of omega-3 fatty acids, that all-important healthy fat that our Western diets so often lack. Instead of downing fish oil, try some other sources, like walnuts, flaxseeds, or chia seeds. A dessert that’s good for you – how delightful!

Raw Cashew Cream Tart

by The Particular Kitchen

Prep Time: 15 mins + 1 hour chilling time

Cook Time: 0 mins

Keywords: raw blender dessert gluten-free soy-free vegetarian wheat free

And just for fun

I posted this on my Facebook page the other day…

1. The Japanese eat very little fat and suffer fewer heart attacks than Americans or Brits.
2. Mexicans eat a lot of fat and suffer fewer heart attacks than Americans or Brits.
3. Africans drink very little red wine and suffer fewer heart attacks than Americans or Brits.
4. Italians drink a lot of red wine and suffer fewer heart attacks than Americans or Brits.
5. Germans drink a lot of beer and eat lots of sausages and fats and suffer fewer heart attacks than Americans or Brits.

CONCLUSION:
Eat and drink what you like. Speaking English is apparently what kills you.

Green leafy vegetables are some of the most nutrient-dense foods on the planet and feature heavily in my detox program. I love how easy they are to use in all kinds of dishes, as well as all the different varieties. It’s great to visit friends and family abroad and discover the types of green leafies available in their parts of the world. Where here in South West London, our local farmer’s market usually sells about 4 different varieties of cabbage, spinach and perhaps some Swiss chard, over in New England in the States, you can get all of those plus dandelion greens, collards, mustard greens, etc etc etc. If we’re lucky, we can find some bok choy and tatsoi, and in the summer of course we’ll get rocket (aka arugula), lamb’s lettuce (aka mache), and watercress.

That’s a lot of greens!

So, how do you incorporate all that leafy goodness into your daily meals? Here’s some suggestions:

• Green Smoothies. The sneakiest way to incorporate these veggies into your diet. Spinach is the default because its leaves are soft and sweet enough that the flavor won’t overpower any of the other ingredients in the smoothie.
• Salads. A no-brainer. But try stepping out of the lettuce department and into something a bit more daring. A massaged kale salad can be a wonderful thing and really forces you to practice chewing (something we tend to forget about when we’re hurrying through our meals).
• Stir Fries. One of the easiest meals to cook for yourself just got healthier – adding in a few leaves at the last minute takes no time. They wilt down so fast in a hot skillet that you’d barely notice they’re there. Try it next time you break out your wok.
• Soups. In much the same way that they can hide inside a smoothie, greens can go undetected in all sorts of soup. Of course, you can really go for it and prepare a totally green soup. Or you can simply stir through some shredded kale at the last minute.
• Wraps. For the more robust leafy greens, like collards and dinosaur kale, try using them as a wrap instead of a tortilla or pita bread. Best of all, they provide a crunchy edge to the wrap, making them a perfect compliment to softer fillings.
• Curries. One of my favorite simple Indian curry dishes, dal, always tastes better with a handful of spinach stirred through. So simple to do!
• Pesto. While basil is the classic leaf in pesto, you can create all sorts of alternatives using different herbs and green veggies. My spinach and walnut pesto is delicious, or you could try making a version using either parsley, mint, or cilantro. Plenty of options and all fantastically green.

So I prepared this simply sauteed dish using the purple broccoli, leaves and all. You could make this using any leafy greens you like – the flavors are divine.

Something I’m keen to address here on The Particular Kitchen is blood sugar. Hypoglycemia, a very low drop in our blood sugar levels, can influence us more than just physically. It brings on that manic state of hunger, our senses are heightened, our moods are all over the place, our head starts to spin. Believe me, imbalanced blood sugar levels are never a good thing.

In fact, they can be a potentially life-threatening issue. Your body is designed to get things back on track, but if you spend your life eating foods that will cause severe spikes and dips in your blood sugar, things can go from bad to worse. You could end up with type 2 diabetes or hypertension. Just another reason why eating a balanced diet as well as living a balanced life is so important!

How do you begin to balance your blood sugar levels?

This is something I’ve brought up with my detoxers, who are starting the program tomorrow! If you are trying to get over a sugar, caffeine, or alcohol craving, the best thing you can do is follow some of these crucial blood sugar-balancing steps:

1. Breakfast. Having a healthy and balanced breakfast sets your glycemic balance for the entire day, so be sure to include protein and healthy fats into your morning meal (and don’t skip it!)
2. Protein. Incorporating protein into every meal and snack can be challenging, especially if you are vegan or vegetarian. Try not to rely on animal protein sources only; legumes, lentils, nuts, seeds, quinoa, and fermented soy, such as tempeh and miso, are all good quality plant-based sources.
3. Healthy Fats. I can’t get enough of the stuff. When I don’t have a spoonful of ground flax on my morning smoothie or breakfast bowl, I feel… off. Failing that route, you can always add in some avocado, nuts, seeds, hemp, chia, or the freshest, wildest cold-water fish (salmon, mackerel, herring) you can find.
4. Snacks. Yes I’m telling you to eat snacks. But not just anything! One that contains a protein, a healthy fat, and a complex carb. Eating a little something every 2-3 hours ensures you don’t end up at the extreme hunger stage (which inevitably leads to the sugar binge stage). Examples of good snacks? A handful of raw walnuts and an apple. A handful of celery sticks and some hummus. A brown rice cracker with some almond butter.
5. Limited Carbs. Limit your carb intake, but not in an Atkins way. Have as many leafy and sulphurous vegetables as your heart desires. Chomp away on kale, broccoli, fennel, onions, spinach, asparagus, etc. Just limit the amount of starchy veggies and grains you’re having (whether they’re whole grains or made into pasta or baked goods). Two to three 1/2-cup servings should suffice for a day.

Many vegetable soups do not contain that all-important protein, so it’s crucial to make sure you’re getting it from somewhere else if you decide to have some for lunch. However, this soup recipe below is ideal for balancing our blood sugar levels. It contains healthy fats in the form of olive oil and almonds and protein in the form of chickpeas. It also has some wonderful spices and herbs, including smoked paprika, which is such a lovely strong flavor – adds a bit of Spanish red to the soup too! This is adapted from a Mark Bittman recipe out of his fabulous Food Matters Cookbook – he uses dried chickpeas in his original version, so I wanted to make it a bit of a cheater’s version. I’m sure I’m not the only one

In other news…

• Buy my cookbook, A Wholesome New Year, packed with recipes to inspire a healthy 2012!
• I’m teaching an afternoon of Allergy-Friendly cooking at The Avenue Cookery School in Putney. There are currently 12 spaces left, so book your place with me today by emailing me. It takes place on Thursday 26th January from 11am-2pm.
• Missed out on joining the Renewal Detox, which kicks off tomorrow? No worries! I’ll be running seasonal detoxes from here on out. The next one starts on April 14th, so more information will be coming in the spring about that one!
• The free Healthy Food Series continues at Nourish Health Foods in East Sheen – my next talk tackles Winter Blues this coming Tuesday (Jan 17th) at 2pm. Come along for some mood-boosting recipe ideas and a healthy treat to take home!

• New workshop alert! I’m presenting a 30-minute talk at Well4ever Clinic in Putney on 20th January all about Detox Advice. Come along at 11am for tea, healthy snacks, and some great info!
• P.S. to keep up with all of my events as well as to get special recipes not currently featured on this blog, sign up to my monthly newsletter

Let’s be honest here – January is not a salad month. It is a soup, stew, broth, curry, chili month. It is about food that warms and nourishes rather than cleanses and cools. And yet a lot of us choose January as the Detox month. While a seasonal detox is a healthy way to recharge when the weather changes (although, that seems to be a bit more vague these days), one at the beginning of the year always feels more important because of the two weeks of decadence we seem to all share at the end of December.

I’m running a 28-day gentle detox program. It’s online, it’s open to anyone, and it is already has 14 members signed up! The start date is a week from Saturday, the 14th of January. If you’d like to join, please email me. I’ll be going through it too (though, admittedly, the meal plans I’ve created aren’t too far removed from my normal diet). In addition to food, the program also covers exercise and lifestyle tips, as well as shopping lists and recipes. I’m trying to make it as easy on you as possible! What I do promise is that there will be no fasting, no juicing, and no ridiculous costs. If it isn’t the right time for you, I’m going to be running these regularly throughout the year, so check back in a few months time!

But I digress.

The salad issue. The one I’ve chosen to highlight in this post, while definitely a salad, is still completely relevant to the time of year. It features roasted beets and oranges (blood oranges if you can find them – they should be appearing soon). It’s light, cleansing, and rejuvenates the blood and liver. You don’t need any fancy equipment to make it look beautiful (though I would suggest buying a mandoline, which is so much easier than attempting to slice your vegetables paper thin using a knife).

This recipe is 100% approved on my Renewal Detox meal plan (just so long as it is combined with some form of protein – it would go nicely alongside some steamed fish or a quinoa dish). I might make this over the weekend for a birthday treat! I’ve already been promised vegan gluten-free pancakes in bed tomorrow morning

Orange, Beet & Fennel Salad

Print or email this recipe

Serves 4

The particulars:

• 2 red beets, tops trimmed
• 2 oranges (navel or blood oranges)
• juice of 1 lime
• 1 small fennel bulb, thinly sliced (mandoline)
• 1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
• handful fresh cilantro leaves

1. Heat oven to 400F. Wash beets, leaving a little water on the skin. Wrap each one in foil and place on a baking sheet. Roast beets until tender – about 1 hour. Leave to cool.
2. Meanwhile, prepare the oranges by removing the skin and pith with a sharp knife. Either slice the oranges crosswise or remove the segments. Place in a bowl with the lime juice.
3. Peel the cooled beets and slice thinly. Strain the juices from the oranges into a small dish and whisk with the olive oil and some salt and pepper. Divide the beets among the plates, then top with the fennel and oranges. Pour over the citrus juice dressing and garnish with the cilantro.

Can you believe 2011 is almost over? This year has been quite eventful and I think 2012 will be no different. Want to know why?

We’re moving to Boston!

That’s right – we’re packing up our London flat and hopping back across the pond to set up a home in the Boston area. We are hoping to make the move in early July, Phil’s visa pending. This has been in the works for some time now and a plan we decided on pretty early in our relationship. I will still be able to practice as a Nutrition Consultant, write blog posts here, and cook even more exciting recipes.

I’m so excited to be close to family and friends again and start a new chapter with Phil. At the same time, I know we’ll miss our UK friends and family too – but after moving to London from San Diego, Boston doesn’t seem so far! This New Year’s Eve, we will be celebrating all the wonderful things to come. So what better way to ring in 2012 than with a plate of delicious raw brownies??

I’m dubbing these Raw Nutella Brownies, since they have that chocolatey hazelnutty flavor the spread is famous for. As a high school student, my breakfast usually consisted of white toast thickly spread with Nutella. I shudder when I think of it now! I’d rather have one of these for breakfast – at least there would be some nutritional benefits to it!

Whatever time of day, if you have cause to celebrate, whip up a batch and indulge in these nutty rich brownies. And if you’re a New Englander, I’d love to hear from you – any great holistic health professionals, restaurant recommendations, or natural foods stores you love in the area?

Raw Nutella Brownies

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Makes 12 brownies

The particulars:

• 1 1/2 cups hazelnuts
• 1/2 cup raw cacao powder
• 1/2 cup shredded coconut
• 1/2 tsp vanilla powder
• 1/2 tsp sea salt
• 2 cups dates
• 3/4 cup coconut oil, melted
• 3 tbsp raw cacao powder
• 2 tbsp raw honey or agave nectar

Party season is upon us! In fact, you’ve probably been to your fair share of holiday parties already – and with Christmas this weekend and New Year’s Eve next weekend, it’s looking like the fun will continue! My favorite part about this time of year is getting all dressed up and spending a night out with friends and family. Sparkly dresses are completely acceptable attire. Velvet is encouraged. Red lipstick is mandatory. It is a fun time to be a girl!

My least favorite part about this time of year are the inevitable hangovers after a night of revelry and a bit too much of what you fancy. This is not just limited to alcohol either – an excess of food and sugar can give you a hangover as well. It all comes down to added pressure on your liver, which is trying to keep with the extra demand placed on it with excessive glasses of champagne.

image source

While everyone seems to have their chosen hangover remedy or “cure”, it’s important to note that we all react differently to what we put in our bodies. A greasy breakfast might work for one person but be completely out of the question to another. Same goes for “hair of the dog“, which I wouldn’t recommend at all!

However, if you’re feeling the effects of an indulgent night, why not try some of these natural relievers… and at the end of the post is a recipe for what I’m calling the Morning After Smoothie – sure to help you feel human again!

Hangover Remedies

• Milk Thistle - a powerful liver protector, milk thistle liquid drops either directly on your tongue or dissolved in a glass of water before you go to bed and in the morning will boost your liver function.
• Cat’s Claw tea - a wonderfully anti-inflammatory and antioxidant herb, cat’s claw is a favorite healer among the Amazonian jungle tribes. Enjoy a cup with a teaspoon of raw honey and a squeeze of fresh orange juice.
• Bananas - to bring your blood sugar back up and to restore your potassium levels.
• Ginger - nausea is a common hangover symptom and ginger is a potent cure. The Morning After Smoothie below contains some freshly grated ginger, but if you’re after something even more immediate, a couple of thin slices in a mug of hot water will do the trick.
• Coconut water - if pure water isn’t cutting it in the rehydration department, coconut water will sort you out in a heartbeat!
• Yoga - exercise is probably the last thing on your mind if you’re feeling headachey and bloated, but a few sun salutations will shift your energy and your mind and help you kickstart the detoxification process (speaking of detox….)
• B complex - an overall health booster, taking a vitamin B complex either the night before or the morning after will rejuvenate your body naturally.
• Aromatherapy - depending on your sense of smell and how this affects your body, you may really benefit from some aromatherapy when you’re feeling rough after a heavy night. Lavender will soothe a stressed out system, while peppermint will invigorate better than the strongest cup of coffee!

The Morning After Smoothie

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Serves 1

The particulars:

• 1 cup probiotic yogurt (cow, goat, sheep)
• 1⁄2 cup frozen berries
• 1 banana
• 1 tbsp ground flaxseed
• 1 small piece of root ginger, grated
• Water, for smoothness