How to Make Coconut Water Kefir (w/ boxed coconut water)

I've always wanted to try coconut kefir but the thought of carting home a case of young coconuts home on the subway was not very encouraging. I decided to try making it with boxed coconut water and it totally worked! I used the ZICO brand because I saw that it didn't contain any extra additives so I'm not sure if other brands will work...

So first you dump the entire container (1 liter) of coconut water into a glass jar. Make sure the coconut water and the jar are room temperature.

Next, add in the powder from two probiotic capsules

This could totally be in a photography gallery! I've never seen such a professional looking picture of pills....

Be sure that your probiotic capsules contain "lactobacillus acidophilus" bacteria.

Stir in the powder and screw on the jar lid tightly. Place in a warm environment for 1 1/2 - 2 days and make sure it's warm, I tried just putting it on the counter and it didn't work (I ended up putting it on a heat register with a towel over it to keep the heat in). You will know it's ready when it becomes significantly cloudy.

Store in the refrigerator and enjoy with meals to aid digestion and get a hefty dose of probiotics!

Drink up me hearty yo ho!....

The boxed coconut water is not as "fresh" so the kefir will be a more yellow-y colour (it was even yellow-ish in the beginning), but it's just as fizzy in my opinion! You'll know it's done when it tastes like beer and no longer contains the subtle sweetness coconut water is famous for.

This is such a powerful drink! Click HERE to read all the amazing benefits of coconut kefir!

Also check out our EBOOK if you're looking for more fizzy recipes

Mineralizing Coco-Expresso Cookies (Vegan, GF)

I don't know about anyone else but I think I've had just about enough of carob. Don't get me wrong, I love the malty chocolateyness carob lends to treats but it was time to try a different alternative. I first heard about Dandy Blend from Brandon Daemon's (Hyperion Herbs) youtube channel. (He has some great tips on health/wellness and incorporating Chinese herbs and supplements into your lifestyle.) I also heard that it was being carried on online ordering sites here in Canada so I thought I'd try it out! The great thing about this product, is it's cheap (10$ CAN for 7oz bag), and you only need a little bit for a big flavourful taste. If you're concerned about getting more minerals and want to give up your daily cup of joe, this is your alternative.
Not only are you getting minerals from the Dandy Blend in this recipe, but also from the coconut nectar and lucuma.

Coco-Expresso Attack!

Lolly-Gagging Cookies

1/2 cup almond meal
1/4 cup shredded coconut, ground finer
1 tbsp lucuma powder
2 tbsp coconut nectar + drops of stevia to desired sweetness
1 heaping tsp Dandy Blend Herbal Coffee Alternative or other Herbal Alternative
2 tsp coconut oil
1/4 tsp vanilla
Pinch of sea salt

Combine dry ingredients in a small bowl. Add nectar, stevia and coconut oil. Wet hands with warm water and form into desired cookie shapes. Freeze until firm. Makes 6 cookies.

We just finished our carob obsession as you could probably see from some of our recipes. We can't wait to experiment more with Dandy Blend!

What is your favourite "healthy flavouring" to use?

Spirulina-Chocolate Pudding (Vegan, GF)

When I first started out on this health journey, one of the first things I bought was spirulina. I barely knew what it was, it just looked green and healthy sitting on the shelf in the health food store. Well I STILL have about half of the container left from when I bought it at the start of last summer. I just can't seem to find good ways to eat it without tasting awful seaweed. Well ever since I've started the candida diet I have been LIVING off of these avocado puddings, they are amazing! I decided to add some spirulina to a batch I was making just to see, I cringed as I added it and hoped for the best. One taste later and...it isn't half bad. A great way to get spirulina into your body!

Ewww, what are you eating?! Oh this? it's sludge from that swamp down the road...

2 small avocados
1/4 cup water
4 tbsp carob powder
15 drops vanilla stevia
1 tsp spirulina
Small squeeze of lemon

Combine the avocados and water in a blender (we used magic bullet), or food processor. Process until combined. Add rest of ingredients. Process until smooth and creamy. Makes 1 satisfying serving, or two small servings.

Reishi Iced Mocha (Vegan, GF)

Good thing I don't have a coffee drinking problem, but if I did, I'd probably drink this to substitute for the full bodied coffee taste everyone seems to love. I was introduced to reishi maybe a month or two ago and I ordered some whole dried pieces of it online. What I didn't realize was that you have to extract it somehow via tea or buy the already extracted powder. It doesn't matter how you take reishi, the point is that you're taking one of the most beneficial and revered herbs in chinese medicine. Reishi is amazingly balancing physically, mentally and emotionally. From my own experience taking reishi, I've noticed an increase in my ability to focus my energy as well as an overall sense of calm. If you feel unbalanced in any way, reishi may be able to help! If you've ever made reishi tea, the first thing you notice when you drink it is: BITTER! In order to subside some of the bitterness I created this drink.

It even gets all foamy on top!

1 cup reishi tea
1 heaping tbsp cacao powder/or carob
1/2 tbsp mesquite powder
1 frozen banana
2 tsp coconut oil/butter
2-3 ice cubes
Drizzle of raw honey/agave/coconut nectar to taste

How to make reishi tea: Combine 4 cups of water and a handful of reishi pieces, broken up into smaller pieces. Bring to a boil then lower to simmer/medium, and simmer for 2 hours (find something productive to do during these two hours :P). You may need to add more water throughout the ismmering if it evaporates too much. Alternatively you can use a powder extract or tincture and simply combine it with water.

Combine everything in a blender. Blend until thoroughly combined. Enjoy as an alternative to coffee!

You can buy a 10:1 reishi extract powder at hyperionherbs.com, this particular powder is extremely high quality and comes from Organic Duanwood. I'm probably going to opt for this powder next time because of its convenience as opposed to the tea.

Almond-Vanilla Detox Fudge (Vegan, GF)

I've been doing a detox for the past few days. Nothing fancy just decreasing salt, sugar, and fat intake while eliminating caffeine, peanut butter (tolerate weirdly), fried, roasted or toasted foods, etc. Increasing salads, smoothies, juices and whole food meals. Well I was doing just swimmingly until I was finding myself restless, tossing and turning throughout the night, it must be the toxins coming out right? No this was something else, this was a sugar craving! Chocolate to be exact. Jenn and I are major sugar addicts, if you've looked in our recipes section, sweet things constitute for most of what we make. So, since I couldn't have chocolate and not too much sugar, out of carob too, I decided to make fudge with almond and vanilla flavouring, it actually tasted amazingly good and subsided the sugar craves for now. I've promised myself I won't give in so easily the next time it hits. I also didn't feel like pulling out the food processor, so this delectably healthy dessert is just a bowl and a spoon away! If you are doing a stricter detox omit the coconut nectar and add more stevia.

2 heaping tbsp mesquite flour

1-2 tbsp coconut flour

2 heaping tbsp vanilla hemp protein powder

1/2 tsp pure almond extract

1/2 tbsp maca powder (optional)

1 tsp vanilla extract

2 tbsp coconut oil

1 tbsp coconut nectar (helps it stick together, low GI)

10-15 drops vanilla stevia, or more for sweeter taste

1 tbsp raw tahini

1 tbsp hemp seeds

1 tbsp almond pieces

Combine dry ingredients in medium bowl. Add rest of ingredients. Form into balls or a slab. Freeze until firm. Makes enough fudge for 4 satisfying serving

Raw Green-Chocolate Pudding w/ Stevia (Vegan, GF)

Another pudding, this time with a super healthy spin. SPIN-ACH. Spinach blends nicely in puddings, the leaves are very soft and full of moisture so there's no obvious green taste or texture. Great for breakfast or post workout protein pudding. Yes it looks like swamp sludge, but it's nutritious, delicious swamp sludge. AND I finally found stevia that doesn't taste weird! I contacted the vice president of NuNaturals and asked if there's any corn or soy in the glycerine, it's made from only coconut...cool.

1 avocado
handful of spinach
2 tbsp raw cacao powder
1 tsp maca powder
1/3 cup chia gel
1 scoop hemp protein powder
8 drops NuNaturals vanilla stevia
Pinch of sea salt

Combine ingredients in food processor or blender. If you like your pudding sweet add in some dates or agave/raw honey.

-Jac

Carob-Blueberry Energy Bars (Vegan, GF)

I've been meaning to make these bars ever since I bought Brendan Brazier's Thrive Diet. I love this book! I recommend it for vegans who are interested in fitness and any type of physical training. All of the recipes in his book are so wholesome and fit the "sketch-free" ideal perfectly.


The dates in these bars provide glucose which is easily expendable energy, meaning it will be available for use almost immediately. There is also protein, essential fats 3 and 6 (from flaxseed), I also added coconut oil to this recipe because I like my bars really firm and I always feel I need more fats in my diet.  I also added Goji Berries instead of the extra blueberries for iron and other essential nutrients. The sesame seeds provide more protein as well as copper (supports blood vessels and bone structure) and zinc, sesame seeds are also the most alkalizing seed you can eat. And did I mention that these are deliciously chocolatey? :)

Beautiful Goji Bars

1 cup soaked dates (medjool)
1/4 cup almonds (soaked and dehydrated)
1/4 cup sesame seeds (soaked and dehydrated)
1/4 cup hemp flour/hemp protein powder
1/4 cup ground flaxseeds (sprouted)
2 tbsp coconut oil (optional)
1/2 cup sprouted or cooked buckwheat (optional)
1 tsp lemon juice
1/2 tsp lemon zest
1/4 cup carob powder
1/4 cup frozen blueberries
1/4 cup goji berries (or more blueberries)


Process the almonds and sesame seeds in food processor until crumbly. Put dry ingredients in, process. Put dates, lemon juice, zest, coconut oil (optional), buckwheat (optional) and blueberries. Process until combined. Put onto a cutting board or flat surface. Add extra blueberries or goji berries and knead together to combine. Form dough into a flat rectangular shape. Freeze for at least 6 hours. Cut into bars. Makes 10-11 bars.

You can watch video of Brendan making these bars here.


-Jaclyn

Green Juice (Without the Juicer!)

Lately my body has been telling me to detox, I've done it all before, green smoothies, teas, raw food. I've never tried juicing, but darn my luck, I don't have a juicer :( I was looking online and apparently you can make juice by blending up your veggies with a little water and straining it through a nut milk bag or cheesecloth! Well that will do nicely! Here is how it's done:

1 apple

Juice of half a lemon

1 inch of ginger

1/4 of a bunch of celery

1/4 bunch of dandelion greens (fave!)

2 cups of a spinach salad blend (spinach, raddichio, and arugula)

1 bunch of parsley

1/2 cup water

Start by blending the apple, celery, lemon juice and water. Leave the leafy stuff until you have a good liquidy base. Put in green stuff. Blend on highest setting for a good minute or so. I don't even have a Vitamix, I used a regular blender. If you have a Vitamix type blender you don't have to blend it for that long.

Then, make a contraption that looks like this. I used cheesecloth to strain because I don't have a nut-milk bag. Straining with a nut milk bag would probably do a more thorough job.

Pour blended mixture in cheesecloth/strainer.

Gather sides of cheesecloth together and SQUEEZE!

Look at all the pulp! Raw veggie crackers?....hmmm

Aaaand.....Green juice!! This recipe makes about one half litre of juice or 2 1/2 cups.