Natural Cures Not Medicine: zucchini

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Showing posts with label zucchini. Show all posts
Showing posts with label zucchini. Show all posts

8 Healthy Foods That Can Easily Replace Their Less Healthy Counterparts

Natasha Long | Prevent Disease

You don’t have to sacrifice taste when switching to a healthier diet. There are a number of nutritious foods which can replace your naughtier preferences without forgoing flavor. From ice cream to pasta, there are much healthier alternatives which will please your palate and your waistline.

1. Quinoa instead of Rice or Pasta

White rice and pasta are “bad” or simple carbs–you know, the ones that don’t provide much in the way of nutrition. But quinoa! This amazing ancient grain not only acts as a perfect platform for soaking up sauces, just like pasta and rice, but also it’s a complete protein, which means it delivers all nine of the essential amino acids.

2. Fruit Sorbet instead of Ice Cream

Conventional ice cream is loaded with added sugars, emulsifiers and preservatives (not to mention pasteurized milk). It is so simple to blend frozen fruits such as strawberries, bananas, blueberries, pineapple, mango and many others into your favorite fruit sorbet with a fraction of the calories, fat and plenty of vitamins and minerals. Just add your favorite fruits into a high speed blender with a little water and you have the perfect substitute for even some of the best ice creams. If you want it thicker, mixing in organic greek yogurt always does the trick.

3. Nut or Seed Milks Instead of Cow Milk

Conventional milk is loaded with pesticides, hormones, and by products of genetically modified foods not to mention that pasteurized milk is perhaps one of the most nutritionally deficient beverages misappropriately labeled as a “perfect food.” Nut or seed milks are super easy to make. Almonds, brazil nuts, cashews, macadamias walnuts, hemp seeds and flaxseeds make wonderful milk substitutes with healthy omega-3s and vitamins you will actually absorb (unlike conventional milk).

4. Shaved Zucchini instead of Pasta

Another magical swap, shaved zucchini (created by shaving zucchini into strands with a vegetable peeler) can carry sauces from the plate to your palate–and add a serving of veggies to your dish to boot. Bonus: You don’t even have to cook it and it’s a refreshing way to serve saucy dishes during summer’s heat!


5. Coconut Water instead of Gatorade

Unless you’re a serious athlete, you don’t need the kind of potassium and electrolytes found in Gatorade anyway; gulping down a good amount of water will more than do the trick for the average gym goer. But coconut water, or the water harvested from inside young coconuts, does provide additional nutritional value over water–without the additives found in sports drinks. Expect great, refreshing, even sweet taste plus about as much potassium as you’d find in a banana.

6. Spinach and Tomato Sauce instead of Spaghetti with Sauce

Let’s be honest. Pasta’s main purpose is to be a vehicle for sauce. So why not drive your favorite pasta sauce into your mouth via a more healthy vehicle? Lightly cooked spinach can be a perfect partner for tomato sauces–not to mention a valuable source of vitamins, minerals, and phytonutrients, which are known to be anti-inflammatory and anti-cancer.

7. Kale Chips instead of Potato chips

We don’t need to tell you how unhealthy potato chips are. But you might like to know you can enjoy similarly crisp, greasy flavor and eat healthily if you reach for kale chips. There is a catch–you’ll need to make them yourself. But on the upside, all you need to do is de-stem kale leaves, spray them with a tiny bit of coconut oil, sprinkle them with sea salt, and bake them for 30 minutes at an oven preheated to 200 degrees Fahrenheit. Even you have a dehydrator, even better (although it will take longer). If you ate an entire bunch, you’d have satisfied your greens requirement for the day and only ingested about 200 calories!

8. Cauliflower instead of Potatoes

Taste aside, there’s not much good that comes from mashed potatoes. But substitute even half of your spuds with cooked and mashed cauliflower and you’ll cut calories and add protein to your favorite rib-gripping side dish. After all, pound for pound, potatoes have nearly four times as many calories as cauliflower and not nearly the amount of nutrition.

Source: preventdisease.com

Delicious, Fresh, Raw Vegan Taco's

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This recipe is based on my love for mushrooms and zucchini (which makes up the base of the "meat") - it turned out insanely amazing, and leaves you feeling great! So enough talk, and more recipe. See below for the ingredients, and simple process to create your own fresh, raw vegan tacos! 


Ingredients:
"Meat"
1-2 cups cremini mushrooms, chopped finely
2 medium zucchini's, chopped into little cubes
1 medjool date, soaked in water until squishy - blend the date in the soak water to make a sort of "sauce", and add 1/2 - 1 tsp taco seasoning* (I make my own homemade, see below for recipe), mix again

Salsa:
4 Tomatoes, chopped finely
1 Garlic clove, crushed
3 tbsp finely diced red onion
1/4 cup finely chopped cilantro (aka. corriander)
Juice of 1/2 a lime

Taco essentials:
1 Head Romaine
1 Carrot, shredded (the "Cheeze")
1/2 long english cucumber, chopped into tiny pieces

Instructions:
Take the medjool date & taco seasoning sauce, and mix with zucchini and mushroom so it covers all the little pieces. Take this mixture and let it dehydrate in the dehydrator at a low temperature for a couple hours, or you can skip this step if you don't have a dehydrator and just let the flavours mingle for a couple hours in a covered bowl (it really doesn't matter if this mixture is more moist or dry, it will taste the same in the end)

To make the salsa, simply combine all the ingredients labelled under salsa, and let sit for an hour to let the flavours blend.


That's it! Now take your romaine taco shell, layer the "meat", cucumber pieces, salsa and "carrot cheeze" - this recipe is way up there on my favourite list! Give it a try!


Raw Zucchini and Hempseed Hummus

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I love zucchini hummus because it is easily made without beans (which often cause me digestive distress), and it tastes just as wonderful. It is also much lighter, and doesn't make you tired (because the digestion required to digest zucchini's is much faster than that which is required to digest beans). Read on to find out how to make your own delicious zucchini hempseed hummus!


Ingredients:
- 2 cups zucchini (you may leave skin on or off, depends on whether you want it more green or not)
- 1/4 cup hemp seeds
- 2-3 tbsp. raw tahini
- 1/4 cup finely chopped dill
- 2-3 garlic cloves, crushed
- 1/2 tsp. cumin
- Squeeze of fresh lemon juice (a couple tablespoons)
- 1 tbsp. hempseed oil
- Optional: cayenne, black pepper, salt

Place all ingredients into a food processor (or blender) and blend on high. If it is too liquidy, then add some more hemp seeds or more zucchini - if it is not wet enough, add some more lemon juice. Enjoy in lettuce wraps, or with vegetable sticks! Store any leftovers in the fridge in an airtight container. It should last 3-4 days. 


Other articles you may enjoy:

Health Benefits Of Hemp Seed Oil




Disclaimer:

Before trying anything you find on the internet you should fully investigate your options and get further advice from professionals.

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