My Healthy Green Tea Latte

A friend of mine introduced this delicious drink to me, and I thought I'd share it with those who read this blog.  I love this healthy green tea latte.

It is not difficult to make either.  I have a Nutribullet that I use which makes it super easy to do.  Best of all, it doesn't cost as much as a commercial latte beverage.

Now, I can't vouch for the specifics of the healthy part, but the ingredients I put into this are healthy in my mind, so I think it is something good.  The best part of it is that it doesn't have all that sugar that you would normally get in commercial beverages.

I'm really trying to cut back on sugar and by drinking this first thing in the morning, it helps me set my tastes and desires for food so I'm not wanting as much sugar.  Plus it feels soothing to me and I like that, because it helps me take the edge off of stress that seems to show up in a day.

Here's the ingredients

• 1 Coffee cup of Water
• 1 Handful of Cashews
• 1/2 Teaspoon of Royal Matcha Green Tea Powder
• Small amount of Cinnamon
• 1 Tablespoon of Honey

Here's how I make it

1. Place the cashews, water, cinnamon and Matcha Green Tea Powder in the Nutribullet.
2. Grind everything up good.  I usually shake the Nutribullet container and then run it a few seconds more.
3. Place the mixture in a small sauce pan and add the honey. (Hint:  I put the honey in a spoon that I can leave in the pan and as the honey warms up, it comes out of the spoon.)
4. Warm the mixture up slowly for a few minutes, to the desired temperature
5. Pour it into your coffee cup and enjoy

I buy the organic raw cashews at Costco and they are much cheaper than if I buy them in Publix or a regular store.  The Royal Matcha Green Tea Powder comes from Dr. Mercola.   I use organic honey that I get at Target.

Of course, the Nutribullet I have is by far one of the best things I've ever bought.  Sure, I have my Blendtec blender that I use for whole food smoothies every day, but for things like this, the Nutribullet just cleans up easier.  It is less mess!  It is simple to use!

If you do your research on the Royal Matcha Green Tea, you'll see just how healthy and beneficial this is to your body.  It is the high end tea, but using a half teaspoon in this beverage recipe makes it not as expensive.

Thanks Marie for sharing this with me!

    

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Blog Post And Images (c) 2017 by Don Shetterly

• Permission required before any part of this blog post is reprinted, reworded or used in any form. 
• You are welcomed to share the LINK to this blog post.  

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12 Days On 180 Nutrition Natural Protein Superfood

This will be my daily account after being on 180 Nutrition for 12 days.  My friend purchased the 3 lb package of chocolate 180 Nutrition Natural Protein Superfood and so we are using it together.  Otherwise, if it was one person, you would get 30 days out of it I believe.

I will record my thoughts and observations from this and see how it goes.  Please note, that we always do a whole food smoothie in our Blendtec blender every morning.

Using the 180 Nutrition product is an additional step I am doing to help improve my own nutrition.  Our daily diet is at least 50% vegetables and if we try to consume as much as we can in a whole food manner.  We don't buy a lot of processed stuff and mostly drink water all day long.


Here's My 12 Days Of Observations

• Day 1 - Today I'm starting with my first 180 Nutrition smoothie.  I put the following into my little NutriBullet blender.  1 Banana, some ice, 1 scoop of 180 Nutrition, 3 heaping tablespoons of oatmeal, 1 teaspoon of chia seeds, 1 tablespoon of pecans, 1 tablespoon of slivered almonds and almond milk.  The thing I noticed is that I made it to thick.  It tasted fine with the chocolate flavor but was a little difficult to drink.  Tomorrow, I'll adjust the ingredients and add a little more almond milk.

• Day 2 - Today is the second day on it.  I pretty much made the smoothie as like yesterday, but I did not put chia seeds in.  For some reason, it seems like they don't blend in very good with the NutriBullet and I probably don't need them.  I also only used a half a banana today because that's all I had and tomorrow I'll go back to the full banana for just a little better overall taste.  I did notice though that I wasn't snacking all afternoon and that's a good thing.

• Day 3 - I'm noticing the same thing as before that I can withhold myself from snacking in the afternoon without gorging on sugary stuff later.  I'm trying to see if I can locate the ingredients to for the sugar-free brownies on the 180 Nutrition website and if I do, I'm going to make those.

• Day 4 - Last night I had a pretty rough night of sleep with nightmares.  So I'm not feeling really great today and the anxiety is high.  It was refreshing to drink this smoothie this morning but outside of that, I have nothing else to share.

• Day 5 - I took this right before doing some yard work and I didn't feel as fatigued and worn out as I normally do.  I'm not sure if it was the 180 Nutrition that helped or not but will test this out again soon.

• Day 6 - I noticed today that my appetite has increased and while I'm trying to not go to the junk food, I am not winning today.  I may need to eat something more solid and then try having this a little after that.  It could just be emotional stressors that are kicking things up and causing the increasing desire for junk food.

• Day 7 - Today was more normal with not feeling like I needed junk food.

• Day 8 - I love the taste of these and it feels refreshing.  It is almost like my body craves them.

• Day 9 - Had my nice chocolate smoothie this morning and so love it.  I just feel better when I start my day out with it.

• Day 10 - I notice that I feel more "powered" nutritionally in my body.  It isn't something I can state with facts, but more of a feeling.  I just don't feel as sluggish, so maybe this is really helping me more than I can see at the moment.

• Day 11 - I reached for the candy today, but I am able to control my desire for it more than I can without the smoothie.  One thing I am noticing is that for the first time in my life, I'm eating more good food in the morning hours.  Normally breakfast would make me sick to my stomach, but I am able to eat and feel good.  In fact, I find myself craving "GOOD and HIGH-quality food".

• Day 12 - It felt good today and it just feels so refreshing.  It feels like my day is complete when I drink a smoothie with the 180 nutrition.  I might sound like a walking commercial, but what I am saying is true.  I'm not embellishing it at all.

I had hoped to go longer recording my observations each day, but because of some travel and other things, my attempt here fell short.  Overall, I have noticed that my desire for bad junk food was diminished.  I noticed that my appetite was more controllable and that I felt better after having the 180 Nutrition Natural Protein Superfood.

I'm not saying any of this only because I want you to buy it.  It is what I experienced and I'm still taking this almost every day.  I notice it if I don't take it.  In fact, I look forward to the great tasting smoothie I make.

Right now as I finish writing this, I'm on my second bag of 180Nutrition, so hopefully, that says how much I like it.  You don't have to take my word for it, because you can try it out for yourself.

To Purchase 180 Nutrition

To be honest and upfront, I do earn a commission if you purchase the product, but again, I try to tell you honestly what it does for me.  I'm not one to scam others at all and if you try this product, I'd love to hear your thoughts.  I just try to offer things that I personally use and love.  They help me continue writing and producing this blog.

By the way, the Nutribullet that I'm using in the pictures is one I bought on Amazon.  It works great and I love it.  It is a 12 piece unit which gives you a lot of extra pieces and I love having extra stuff.  Click Nutribullet to find it on Amazon or just click the picture to the left.  We have been using it every day and have had no problems with it.  I highly recommend it for individual smoothies.  



For more grinding power, I would go with the Blendtec Blender.  I have written about our Blendtec Blender that we've been using over 7 years to make daily whole food smoothies.  I know there are cheaper blenders on the market, but I highly recommend the Blendtec.  It does an excellent job and as you can see, its been going for 7 years with no signs of it slowing down.  I personally don't buy cheap stuff that I have to replace frequently because I believe that is not good for our environment.

(click image to read)

Question Of The Day

Have you tried 180 Nutrition?

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Blog Post And Images (c) 2016 by Don Shetterly

• Permission required before any part of this blog post is reprinted, reworded or used in any form. 
• You are welcomed to share the LINK to this blog post.  

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Easy Red Pepper Hummus Recipe

Recently I got the Blendtec Mini Twister Jar and I love it!  I was thinking about getting the NutriBullet but since I already had the Blendtec, the Mini Twister jar made perfect sense.

I love hummus but when you buy the commercial stuff in the store it usually has garlic or onions in it.  Those two items make me sick.  These days it is getting harder and harder to find food without garlic and onion.

I adapted the recipe from what was displayed in the book that came with the Mini Twister Jar.  If you want to put garlic in it, feel free or to try other variations.  This is just the starting point.

Red Pepper Hummus

Ingredients:

• 1 TBSP olive oil (maybe some better oils to use)
• 1 TBSP Fresh Lemon Juice 
• 1 TBSP Tahini
• 7.5 oz Garbanzo Beans
• 1 to 2 TBSP liquid from Garbanzo Beans
• 1 Cup Red Pepper (I cut a red pepper in half)
• 1/4 tsp Salt
• 1/4 tsp Ground Cumin
• 1/8 tsp Cayenne Pepper
  

Directions:

• Add all ingredients into the Mini Twister Jar and place the lid on the jar.  
• While holding the lid on the twister jar, Select the Salsa/Dips/Batters button
• Turn the twister lid counter-clockwise during blending

I had never used Tahini paste before so I went on Amazon and found this product which seemed pretty inexpensive.  Two jars were around $10 if I remember correctly.  The paste tasted good and seemed to be just sesame seed paste with nothing else. It worked great for this hummus recipe.

I had one good-sized lemon and from that lemon, I got about 6 to 8 TBSP of fresh lemon juice just by squeezing it in a little handheld juicer.

Olive oil may not be the best, but use whatever you prefer and see how it tastes.  The cayenne pepper was very strong, but it gave it a good kick.  The original recipe called for roasting the red pepper, but I did not see any need to do this and red bell pepper is very healthy for you.  It is full of phytochemicals.

I love Blendtec and it works very well.  This little mini twister jar is ideal.  It is the right size and easy to clean out especially with the special spatula that came with it.

I don't think I would want to make more hummus than this recipe made because I want to keep it fresh.

Since it was so easy to make, it wouldn't take much for me to make some more at any time.

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Blog Post And Images (c) 1/4/16 by Don Shetterly

• Permission required before any part of this blog post is reprinted, reworded or used in any form. 
• You are welcomed to share the LINK to this blog post.  

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Easy Veggies Rice and Cheese Recipe

This is one of my favorite things to make!  It is simple and easy and nutritious.  The raw taste of the veggies just brings it alive.  Outside of cutting up some vegetables and steaming them and the rice, it is not a hard thing to make.  It takes very little time. So, here's what I do with my recipe and you of course can create it in whatever way works for you.

Sometimes I use a veggie chopper to chop the vegetables up, but tonight I just cut them up.  It all depends upon what you have and what you want to do. The veggie chopper really makes cutting vegetables up so easy.  There is no right way or wrong way to do this. 

Cook time for the veggies and rice was around 45 to 50 minutes, but of course that depends upon your steamer.

You can use whatever vegetables you wish to use.  Your favorite veggies are the ones that work the best.  Tonight, I used broccoli,  cauliflower, carrots, green pepper, red pepper, and snow peas.

Healthy Oatmeal Breakfast

I saw something similar on a google search the other to what I am about to share.  However, I can't find the link and I wish I could.  So, the thank you goes out to whoever it was.  You inspired me!  However, I'm making this different than what was shown anyway, so in many ways I was inspired their creation to create my own healthy oatmeal breakfast.

The way I create this oatmeal is to my taste.  You don't have to follow what I do.  You are free to create whatever it is that works for you, using ingredients that you enjoy and love.  I'm just giving the basic oatmeal breakfast that I find healthy and satisfying.

The other great thing about this recipe is that it doesn't take that long to make, doing it the way I do.  If you are in a hurry, than this should not take more than about 10 minutes to prepare and make this.  It might take a few minutes longer than that, but not much.  Here are the instructions and ingredients.

Healthy Easy Banana Bread Recipe

I came across this on a google search and boy it is delicious.  Of course, I modified it a little bit because the original recipe had nutmeg in it and we did not care for that on the first attempt.  I also added pecan pieces to it and I make sure I put in at least the amount of bananas that the recipe calls for or just a little more.

In the original recipe, it stated a 50 to 55 minute baking time at 350 degrees.  Unfortunately, I found that I had to bake it for almost 60 minutes.  Of course that could be my oven.  So please experiment with what works best in your kitchen.

This is a very healthy recipe made without any oil or all the other bad stuff that people tend use in baking.  We used Mott's Apple Sauce (NO sugar added) and it did not have high fructose corn syrup.  We try to avoid high fructose corn syrup as much as we can. 

So here is the easy recipe.

Quinoa, Burger Crumbles And Veggie Dish

Here is a recipe of something I made for a meal.  It was just one of those moment creative dishes.  While it is nothing fancy, it did taste very good and was simple to make.  You can alter it in any form that you like, but to give some framework, here is the recipe for Quinoa, Burger Crumbles and Veggie Dish.

Quinoa, Burger Crumbles And Veggie Dish

Ingredients:

• 2 Ears of Sweet Corn
• 1 Green Pepper
• 1 Yellow Squash
• 1 Zucchini
• 1 Broccoli Head
• 1 Bag of Burger Crumbles (Morningstar)
• 1 Cup of Quinoa
• 1/2 Cup of Parmesan Cheese (if desired)
• Spices (such as Pepper, Celery Salt or whatever you choose)

Directions:

Don's Vegetarian Mexican Pasta

Yummy easy to make dish!

Here's a yummy dish that I recently made. Of course, if you want it to be Vegan, just change the ingredients that work for you and I'm sure it will taste as good. It is an easy recipe that you could change and adjust to suit your own tastes. So have fun with it and enjoy!

Don's Vegetarian Mexican Pasta

Ingredients:

Vegetable Lasagna

While I don't often share recipes online, this one is a recipe that is is appropriate I think for this blog. It is my first attempt at making Vegetable Lasagna and it came out very good! Below is how I made it but feel free to add or take away any of the vegetables. These are vegetables that we like.

When I was looking for online recipes, I noticed that most of them only had a couple of vegetables in them. I wanted lasagna full of vegetables. Granted, we had more vegetables than I could get in the pan, but we'll just eat the rest of those. They don't go to waste in our house.

And of course, this recipe has no meat in it but it does have cheese. It is a great vegetarian dish and it makes a lot! I have a big, glass lasagna dish that was very full by the time I got everything in there. Hope you enjoy it! See recipe below.

Vegetable Lasagna - Don's Way

Bake Covered at 375 for 50 minutes, let sit for a few minutes before serving

Ingredients:

Brocolli (2 cups chopped)
Cauliflower (approx 2 cups)
Cucumber (1)
Zucchini (1)
Spinach (2 cups chopped)
Carrots - string or thinly sliced
Pepper – Red (1)
Pepper – Yellow (1)
Pepper – Green (1)
Green Beans (couple of hand fulls)
Celery (1 or 2 cups maybe)
Yellow Squash (1)
Black Olives – Sliced – 2 small cans
Basil (small bunch to taste)
Parsley (small bunch to taste)
Salt (to taste if desired)
2 Eggs
4-6 cups Mozzarella Shredded Cheese
1-2 cups Parmesan Cheese
16 oz Ricotta Cheese
2 Jars Barilla Marinara Sauce
1 box Barilla already cooked Lasagna Noodles

Directions:

1) Chop up all vegetables and steam them until soft. 
2) Mix 2 eggs, ricotta, 2 cups Mozzarella, 1 cup parmesan together
3) In a large 9x13x3 inch lasagna pan
4) Spread 1 cup sauce on the bottom of the baking dish
5) Layer 4 uncooked lasagna sheets
6) Layer 1/3 ricotta mixture, half the vegetables, 1 C Mozzarella, 1 C Sauce
7) Layer 4 uncooked lasagna sheets
8) Layer 1/3 ricotta mixture, 1.5 Cups Sauce
9) Layer 4 uncooked lasagna sheets
10) Layer remaining ricotta mixture, remaining vegetables, 1 C Sauce
11) Layer 4 uncooked lasagna sheets - top with remaining sauce, 1 C mozzarella, Parmesan

Important:  

You most likely won't use all the vegetables in this.  I put a layer down of them (where it says half - half may be too much).  Even though it looks like you're not buying that much vegetables, more than likely you will have more than enough.  We usually just eat them with rice, and topped with cheese for another meal.


Note:  I use this Vegetable Chopper for things like this and it works great!



*For more articles, check out the Mind Body Thoughts Blog

From The Kitchen

Couscous Veggie Delight
© 12/15/08 Don Shetterly

A great vegetable and couscous dish.

Needed:
Large Glass Baking Dish
1 Box Couscous
2 10oz Cans of Cream Of Celery Soup (more or less to your liking)
2 (15oz) Cans Black Eyed Peas
6 oz container of Spicy Alfalfa & Radish Sprouts
11 oz Diced Squash
3 Medium Sized tomatoes
1 Green Pepper
Half of Celery Stalk
1 Head of Broccoli
1 Head of Cauliflower
2 Cups Cheddar Cheese


Directions
1. Cut up all vegetables (Cauliflower, Broccoli, Celery, Pepper, and Squash) and steam until softened.
2. Prepare couscous as directed on the box
3. Layer couscous in the bottom of the dish
4. Drain black eyed peas and layer over the top of the couscous
5. Dice tomatoes and layer on top of the black eyed peas
6. Spread the alfalfa sprouts on top of the tomatoes
7. Spread the Cream Of Celery Soup on top of the Alfalfa Sprouts
8. Spread steamed vegetables on top of the soup
9. Place the cheese on the top and spread out evenly
10. Bake at 350 degrees for about 30-40 minutes.


Note:
You could substitute about any vegetables that you like for any of these. This just happened to be what was available and things that we liked.

This recipe in these quantities is enough for a baking dish the size of 4 Liters. Adjust accordingly to your needs or freeze the leftovers.


Servings: Makes probably at least 8 servings.