Hi Super Moms! Happy Fall. I LOVE this time of year – the chill in the air invigorates me – although I live in Los Angeles, so the chill isn’t quite what it is in New York. New York winters call for warming foods, and foods that boost our immunity.
Our children’s schools and our work environments are the breeding ground for colds and flu. However, it is absolutely possible to protect ourselves and our families from all the bugs and viruses out there with powerful immune building foods. It’s fitting that these are the flavors of our winter palette. Nutmeg, clove and cinnamon are some of the strongest anti-bacterial, anti-viral, and anti-fungal foods available. Add them generously to your cooking.
Avoiding white sugar is another important element in keeping our kids healthy this fall and winter. Sugar feeds most aliments; so being mindful of our sugar intake makes all the difference in our health. Having a small amount of sugar three times a day is too much. Sodas have HUGE amounts of sugar and should be avoided entirely. I have seen many children addicted to sugar. This affects their moods and certainly their biology and health. Our culture supports this with the bombardment of foods and drinks marketed for children that truly should never be given to children.
I find children’s desire for something sweet is always satisfied with any of the recipes below. These recipes provide a delicious way to incorporate the powerful immune building spices into your daily eating, while satisfying your sweet tooth and keeping you free of white sugar cravings.
I think over-the-counter and prescription medicines should be avoided unless an acute situation presents itself. These ”medicines” are very handy when you have to power through a busy day; however, they don’t do much to heal the body – they just cover up the symptoms. Symptoms are actually the body’s way of healing itself. When we take “medicine” to make the symptoms go away, we often cause the disease to prolong, creating the need to take the “medicine” longer (“medicine” manufacturers know this and consider that brilliant business).
Taking a preventative approach with your family’s health is always your best bet. However, clove, cinnamon and nutmeg can be used in an acute situation as well. In fact, they have been used that way for thousands of years.
Enjoy the below recipes.
To your health!
Winter’s Apple Sauce
Prep time: 3 min.
Serving size: 6 oz.
Yield: 2 servings
Ingredients
4 Fuji apples
2 Tbsp mesquite powder
1 tsp cloves (I prefer the clove, but you can use the clove powder).
1 wedge lemon
Wash and cut the apples into quarters, or smaller. Combine apples, mesquite powder, and whole cloves in the food processor using the chop too. Puree for several minutes until apples sauce is well blended and cloves broken down. This recipe can be made with ground cloves if you prefer. I like having little bursts of clove.
#EatHealthy Egg Nog
Ingredients
8 oz water (room temp)
1 scoop Vanilla Brown Rice Protein Power, (I like Growing Naturals because it’s Raw, Organic, Non-GMO)
1 tsp clove
1 tsp nutmeg
Combine all ingredients in shaker, and shake until well mixed.
This is a terrific way to start the day for both you and the kids!
Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cake
Prep time: 90 minutes
Cook time: 50 minutes
Small Bundt cake ~ double recipe for regular size Bundt cake.
Ingredients
1 heaping cup fresh pumpkin (from small sugar pumpkin)
1 ¼ cup coconut sugar or maple sugar
1 cup flax meal (ground flax seeds)
1 cup brown rice flour
3 Tbsp apple sauce
2 tsp nutmeg
2 tsp ground clove
¼ tsp ground ginger
¼ tsp sea salt
2 tsp baking soda
¼ cup chocolate chips (organic vegan if you wish)
Fill large soup pot ¾ full with water. Wash and place whole sugar pumpkin in pot and boil for 1 hour. Make certain that a fork or knife can easily pierce the pumpkin before removing from hot water. Let pumpkin cool for at least 20 minutes. Sometimes I cook the pumpkin the day before and let it cool in the refrigerator overnight. Pumpkin will keep for a few days in the fridge.
Preheat oven at 400. Simply cut cooked pumpkin in half. Scoop out seeds very easily with a spoon. This recipe only calls for ½ of the pumpkin. Spoon the soft pumpkin into the mixer bowl. Discard the outside shell into the compost pot. (Put other half of pumpkin in covered dish in the fridge and use for soup or sauce or dice to a top salad.)
In mixing bowl, combine pumpkin, applesauce and coconut sugar or maple sugar on medium speed until well mixed.
In another medium bowl combine all dry ingredients: Flax meal, brown rice flour, spices, baking soda. Whisk together so everything is evenly distributed.
While mixer is on low, slowly add dry ingredients until dough is thoroughly mixed. Turn off mixer, and stir in chocolate chips. Grease small Bundt pan with coconut oil. Pour cake batter in and smooth out with spatula.
Bake on 400 for 50-60 minutes. Check with a toothpick to make sure it is done before removing from oven. Place plate on top of Bundt pan, flip plate and pan over. Bundt pan will easily slide off, leaving your beautiful pumpkin chocolate chip Bundt cake to cool on the plate. Enjoy!
Blythe Metz hosts a weekly raw food and natural living show called Blythe Raw Live. She is currently producing a feature film called #StopMonsanto with partners Brad Wyman, Mariel Hemingway and Priscilla Woolworth. Metz is also currently co-producing a Stan Harrington Indie drama called Lost Angels, starring Oliver Pigott.
* Healthy Living is section of our website co-hosted by Lemi Shine. Lemi Shine has compensated Mommybites to be a partner in this awesome Healthy Living section on our website. This partnership does not influence the content, topics or posts made on this blog. We always give our honest opinions, findings, beliefs, or experiences on all topics, products, and services.
