Peach smoothie is one that is delicious and creamy. And full of protein.
Plus peaches and cottage cheese are delicious (and one of my favorite combos). With a honey swirl like this, it’s something you can be mesmerized with and sip on to quench your thirst.
Because peaches are about 90% water, and a close second to watermelon.
Both fruit flavors taste good in coffee if flavored coffee is your vibe. And cold brew coffee makes for a refreshing drink.
And for another creamy tasting profile for this peach cottage cheese smoothie, add peanut butter and milk. Or a ripe avocado for more healthy fat food ingredients that support anti-inflammation and helps lower cholesterol.
Oh, and if you want the peaches and cream look, then an added banana makes for an elevated experience (and another good look!).
…You gotta love smoothies for all the refreshing healthy ingredients variety options, that you can put together this week.
Add remaining ingredients. If using fresh peaches, cook to soften or freeze and bring out next day for a softer/mushy peach for smoothie. If using canned peaches, strain peaches from liquid in can.
Ricotta cheese cake is a protein dense dessert that is delicious with curd in a bowl, plus egg protein. So that’s 2xx protein. Then bake, twice (also 2x) with steps below for an elevated dessert taste experience.
…Where this can also be a protein breakfast (or weekend brunch) dessert that’s healthy and fairly easy to make and simple to bake twice.
First, you make the curd in a small bowl (or you can even use a mug). You make the curd a few hours or day ahead.
You can make this with or without butter if you like. With fat or butter (for taste), you’ll want to add a plastic cover so it doesn’t form a fat layer at the top. For more step instruction on curd, you can see the inspired canele pastry muffin recipe. 🥮
You can make a curd in any flavor you like, such as vanilla and lemon are delicious pairings. And then added berries give another layer of healthy flavors. Let it rest in the fridge.
Then for the ricotta cheese cake, whisk or break up the egg, and add your preferred flavorings/extract and honey, if using. Add a little milk or not (if you want a denser cheesecake).
Mix with ricotta. Add to a baking vessel that can withstand hotter (broil) temperatures. This can be a heat-safe ceramic vessel or a springform pan. Usually the packaging on your tools indicate whether it’s meant for 500°F or higher temps.
Start by baking the ricotta cheese cake on the bottom rack at 350°Ff/180°C for about 15 minutes until cheesecake is set (or solid at the top).
And then step two in the oven: move the cheesecake to the top or near top oven rack (about 5-6 inches from the top of the oven). Close the oven door, and turn the broil setting on for 3-4 minutes until browning occurs.
Turn the oven off and let it cool down for 30 seconds or so.
Use your oven safe gear and pull the cheese cake out of the oven.
Let it cool on the oven counter top or a heat-safe plate, and remove after it’s cooled. You can also more quickly cool it in the refrigerator.
This is a soft and firm cheesecake that is baked twice.
Course Breakfast, Dessert
Cuisine American
Author Brandy @ Healthy Happy Life Secrets
Equipment
Broil-heat safe baking vessel
Ingredients
Ricotta cheese
Curd (milk, egg yolk, flavor and butter optional)
2tspraw honey (optional)
Instructions
Combine ingredients and bake at 350°F/180°C for 15 minutes (or until set and cheesecake is solid at the top).
Set baking vessel on top rack (about 5-6 inches from the top of oven). Close oven door and turn on oven broil setting for 3-5 minutes watching the entire time until browned to desired. Tip: Broiling is heating that comes from the top of the oven that's about 525°F in a regular oven.
Turn broil setting off. Let cool for about a minute and pull the cheesecake out of the oven.
Anti-Inflammatory spices is something I can’t live without in modern living… they’re rainbow food-as-medicine. And nature’s supplements.
They prevent conditions and in some cases, they natural Rx heal right away like medicine if you know what to take and when!
And they add cooking and baking flavor to dishes.
They’re also dirt cheap, comparatively. Even a $10 spice costs less than most medicines on insurance. They also don’t expire as soon as most pills.
You can tell it’s time to replace when the scent disappears if it had one to start with, because that’s a hint at its taste value and its healthiness… if that’s what you’re after.
Taste is subjective, but their effectiveness is not.
Anti-inflammatory spices aren’t good substitutes for fixing a health problem that needs medical attention.
But the right ones are often good for prevention, that doesn’t get talked about enough.
Sometimes you can dodge an infection bullet before it starts a war in the body. But once it grows, it’s too late for spices.
Where they would have been ideal to take, and are natural.
Spices don’t cause gut havoc.
They support restoring the body.
And that’s what Ayurvedic food-as-medicine is all about.
Plus, your body is your advocate as it knows what it needs.
It’s only downfall is it lacks communication.
Instead you have your senses to give you clues.
…And if you take a spice whiff and it smells good this season for you, then your body is telling you that’s good for you.
That’s obvious to us as we like what we like.
But it’s even more intuitive than that.
Your nose knows!
Being intuitive to supporting your good health, the body tells you what it is lacking by making it a preference to you. Remember, the body lacks communication skills, so it can’t straight up tell ya!
And that makes visiting spice stores and candle sections (that are also healing) all the more intriguing. I’ve been intrigued for decades.
Aromatherapy is good for wellness.
And with spices and herbs (the leaves) as aromatics in cooking, we’re off to a good start!
If we like how it smells, it’ll be even better when we get to taste what we’re making.
The taste buds will confirm that.
And we’re doing our body a world of anti-inflammatory good as most plant-based foods like spices and herbs have phytochemical, polyphenols. and antioxidants.
Which is why people all over the world use spices as medicine potions, and have been for centuries.
And this people, me, 😊 has spices in a third of her pantry… with food ingredients and tea filling the remaining space.
But I count teas sometimes as spice blends for baking. And if you look at each of your tea’s ingredients, you often find spice bits (like bits of plants from seeds, fruit, bark, or root). Chai is a great example. And you can use a tea bag to make no-bake dessert chai balls.
Others common ingredients include chicory and licorice roots. Or coriander and cumin seeds. And celery seed.
But teas make better answers for tea drinks or a cup of tea. Because the spice blends are often sweet and subtle.
Spices are usually as subtle, as they punch you in the face.
So you won’t find dill or cayenne often in a tea bag, because they’re not sweet. And mint tea is too subtle compared to fresh mint herb (leaves).
And if it’s too subtle, their culinary purpose is diminished. So if you’re taking turmeric or cayenne for (preventative) health reasons, look for fresh ones.
An exception is ginger. It plays well with sweet tastes like chocolate, so it’s good in a drink or gingerbread cookie (my preferred way 😋). .
Spices should come alive in scent on their own. Or in a spice blend (different than a tea with a blend of spices).
Today, out in markets you easily find spice blends like Five Spice (usually with cloves, star anise, Sichuan pepper, and fennel seeds, cinnamon) and garam masala (cumin, coriander, cardamom, cloves, cinnamon, and black pepper).
This is a short list of what I look for in spices for taste and food-as-medicine:
Capsaicin – found in some spices like paprika is the mild version of spices that have chili peppers like cayenne pepper. It’s especially noted as good for nerve damage.
Try a Cajun spice blend that has more than one kind of capsaicin spice like paprika and cayenne. Plus other healthy ingredients like black pepper, garlic, and onion. 5-in-1, gotta love that!
Cardamom – Baharat is a Lebanese 7-spice that brings me back to managing busy parties for some popular DC Lebanese restaurants. Often the blend has black pepper, paprika, nutmeg and the 5 C’s (cumin, coriander cinnamon, cloves, cardamom). Chai is another source.
Turmeric – curcumin is so good for inflammation and joint pain. I have found so many good uses. It gets better and better. And the turmeric taste is smoky good for savory dishes that makes up for its pitfall as a spice that stains clothing.
Cloves – eugenol is in an allspice with cloves. It’s more potent than in other spices like cinnamon. And that you can tell by the powerful smell and taste… making my point above as medicine is in the aroma strength. Cloves are noted as good for taming potential gum infections.
Ginger –gingerol is another punchy spice. Adding this to sweet tastes and drinks are easy ways to take in ginger. That the spice is known to be better at some things than whole ginger that can be too strong of a taste for some. And the spice is much easier to add than the awkward shaped ginger root.
Oregano – thymol is found in many spices like thyme and is part of the mint family, but oregano has powerful antioxidants. It goes great in Italian dishes and a low-sodium healthy soup like clam chowder.
You can also go French bistro vibe with a Provencal or French blend that usually has parsley, chives, dill and tarragon at a minimum. And blends like this save time because it’s one spice instead of 4.
But you’re addicted to spices like me, you still have each of the spices on their own. 😁
You and I don’t have to wait for an occasion like Thanksgiving dinner spices to break out the anti-inflammatory spices. You can get in the healthy habit today.
Cottage cheese frozen dessert with peach is a pairing that may be your next dessert to help with more protein, weight management, and satiating a sweet craving.
…And dare I say as good as any frozen yogurt or peach ice cream you’d have! It even has the pretty peaches and cream color. And you can make this with other stone fruits like plums and cherries that will hold up.
And it’s so easy to make at home with a blender, like a Magic Bullet.
Cottage cheese and peaches are a delicious taste pairing. 🍑 +🧀
…I discovered this as a child, as that was the only way I would eat cottage cheese as a picky kid eater. And today, you can give it a try for yourself with your picky tastes!
Whether you use fresh peaches is up to you. Fresh peaches are abundant in hot summer months.
So you can stock up during summer season when peach desserts and juicy peach-everything are in full swing. Then freeze them for later in the year or year round if you like when they’re harder to find.
And if you want an easy way to get a smooth peach dessert year-round, use canned peaches that are the smoother way for this cottage cheese frozen dessert.
Canned peaches are also already soft. You won’t need to cook them. And you don’t have to wait until peak summer peach season. All you need to do is drain them, and rinse them if you like.
You can pair your peach cottage cheese dessert that’s like an ice cream with peach cobbler or peach profiteroles. Both are low-sugar.
Peaches are great for healthy peach drinks like juice, tea, or coffee. Also, how about a peach donut?... have you seen them around? That’s a newer type of peach, also called a flat peach or Saturn peach that are fresh.
They look more out of this world than earthly. 🪐
The ones I found came in a plastic casing with a handle that made it look like a purse.
But the best peaches for this peach cottage cheese frozen dessert are canned.
And whatever peaches you choose, you can freeze your extra peaches. Frozen peaches are perfect for this peach cottage cheese dessert.
You can bring them out of the freezer and move them to the fridge. That will soften or mush them without needing to cook them over a day or two. They are perfect for bakes too.
You can use your freezer as your second pantry (that’s what I do!).
It makes meal prep easier, along with food variety for your groceries on hand.
This is a low-fat delicious frozen cottage cheese dessert.
Course Dessert
Cuisine American
Author Brandy @ Healthy Happy Life Secrets
Ingredients
1cupcottage cheese
1cup softened peach (about one fresh peach or 8 peach canned slices)
water or coffee
Instructions
Blend peach and cottage cheese together and add back a little liquid as needed.
Freeze, and bring out to enjoy!
Notes
Canned peaches will work well to make a smooth texture like creamy ice cream. You can also use frozen peaches that are brought to room temps and will be soft.
Dyshidrotic eczema is a specific type of eczema marked by inflamed skin marks caused by dry skin triggers. It’s related to general atopic eczema and like a sunburn with dry skin and blisters. And these days have been more dry so it can happen more often.
But there’s more causal facts to the condition behind the hood than just dryness, where self-care is just part of the solution.
And if this is something you or others you care about face in life for weeks or seasons, then knowing how to shorten flareups (or better yet prevent them altogether) is the best happy daily life answer.
For starters, you can do something empowered about it with food-as-medicine!
…Where eat-from-the-rainbow foods are real skin medicine and cures in a bowl. 🥣
Healthy food is something I believe in wholeheartedly. And if I were to leave here tomorrow, I would not regret eating healthy foods at all, as I make them delicious (it’s in my former catering-self blood!).
For dyshidrotic eczema, a starting anti-inflammatory food list like this specific one can be turned into a tasty menu!
This healthy good grocery food list is one you can print out for your grocery shopping. …And on this site, I always share what healthy flavors I pair and recipes so you can make them daily for your bowls and plates… and I mean daily, where the easy-to-source healthy foods do the heavy lifting as flavor and texture ingredients.
And where eczema symptoms are made better eating these anti-inflammatory foods (and worsened with unhealthy foods).
In the dyshidrotic eczema case, clear blisters are clear signs to this type of eczema caused often by environmental and/or genetic factors.
…Plus, a natural earth metal you’ll learn more about below. 👇
While flareups are temporary, an anti-inflammatory diet helps restore the inflammatory skin symptoms sooner, as long as you don’t itch-n-scratch.
And you do baby yourself in self-care and moisturize skin often like you would prioritize changing a diaper.
And as you gain experiences and grow, eczema of any sort gets easier along with your reflexes to help restore to normal.
I know this deeply as I entered this unknown with my first few eczema lessons. They looked slightly different, but had the same common skin inflammation at the core.
And since those early years, I’ve learned so much and about which food-as-medicines, help or hurt. I’m a talking and walking test case under the microscope.
And as life is changing so fast these days, I’m constantly adapting to and refining my options to the evolving ingredients that end up in processed grocery foods. And so should you!
And while sorting through which foods are good (in this ever-changing food landscape), may be overwhelming, the silver lining is you get to build a good relationship with anti-inflammatory healthy foods that you might not otherwise have put in your cart.
You get to healthy eliminate and re-evaluate.
You wise up to what certain healthy foods that are good… but that you don’t want to eat too much of…
…Like go-to plant-based foods that are healthy in general, but (downer alert) come with natural negative plant baggage.
And more on that below, so you can focus on the positive foods!
Variety and moderation is still the best general answer.
Being more food and ingredient selective is also a healthy opportunity to detox, lose weight, and eat more fiber.
Wild salmon, lean chicken, white rice, sweet potatoes, turmeric, bananas, berries, probiotic Greek yogurt, honey, and bell peppers are examples of my good food-as-medicine, any day, year-round, any time and any condition.
These were good footprints in my childhood, and they are good now… and you too will find clues from your tracks as to what good foods are good for you now.
Some good foods can be surprising, like bell peppers was for me. Ring the bell please! 🫑 And oolong tea daily works, and is even better for a few reasons than green tea (…which btw, they come from the same plant source that looks like an ordinary bush with green leaves).
And those good foods and beverages become effective partners for healing the body and skin. They’re friendly, edible medicine.
And your custom list should give you grocery food confidence, knowing you buy the right stuff.
Confident positive thoughts put your mind at ease and help lower stress in the body (through the mind-body connection) that can play a big part in whether you have eczema flareups, not, or never.
Besides lowering stress and foods, what also helps is lowering sugar.
Low-sugar recipes are enjoyable (not compromising in taste) and using healthy food alternatives.
And less sugary tastes help lower your body’s sugar addictions and daily cravings.
I went from an addicted sweet tooth to not needing daily sugar… and definitely not 1/2 cup of sugar or more in dessert recipes.
And you can too if that’s your mission as sugar does your body no favors.
But you already knew that… because that’s healthy eating wisdom for all peeps.
And something you’re probably not aware of for dyshidrotic eczema flareups, the biggest trigger factor of them all is high nickel foods.
That’s something few people talk about, so I’ll give you what you need to know here…
Nickel is a naturally occurring metal found in soil and plants, as a micronutrient. And it’s in the water and everywhere on earth, so being surrounded, it’s easy to start an allergic storm.
…And that’s why you hear some people are allergic to wearing certain gold or silver jewelry. It’s because of the nickel metal mixed in, that’s the job of the alchemist (great book by the way!).
…And maybe why it’s a good thing we don’t carry coins around as much today in our climate erupting era.
And worse than metal to touch is ingesting nickel foods that are all around.
Some surprising nickel foods are healthy anti-inflammatory foods like plant-based cocoa, chocolate, nuts, seeds, legumes, and whole grains.
And as healthy food confusing as this can sound, memorizing a list of general anti-inflammatory foods won’t be good for dyshidrotic eczema symptoms in general.
Better to use a known food list like the one above, at least as a start.
The good news is there’s a large food variety you get to choose from (and for dyshidrotic eczema inflammation).
If you have a skin flareup, skip those food offenders until you’re in the clear.
And don’t be afraid to test some healthy foods that can be “maybe” foods for your body.
Like eggs for some types of eczema?
I believe it would be tragic to give up a healthy food you love that you didn’t need to.
And while you’re having a skin flareup…
If you enjoy the food, don’t feel skin irritation, and nothing lights up, then take that as a good sign.🚦Put that on your grocery food list.
…Like based on research first, I found iffy eggs, grapefruit, and corn tortilla are all good with me. And wasabi too… wasabi! I’m lucky because I’m not naturally allergic to any foods under ordinary circumstances.
And if I didn’t at least try when tested (because I was scared, which is not my M.O.), I’d be missing out. And I’m a Joy of Missing Out type. And that’s healthy!
But Baker-me also played smart safe away from all flours for a temporary elimination diet, and felt better about it because most flours (whole wheat and gluten-free) are high in nickel. It’s not the gluten that’s the potential trigger for me, it’s the nickel!
…And that may be for you too?
So it’s a good idea (and a gift?) to be able to see (as in test and try) what your body below your neck thinks about the food you eat.
And then you won’t be wondering (scared?) and stuck in habits eating the same boring foods all your life.
Variety is the spice of life! And the way to how you can love the taste of healthy foods. Plus spices.
Our ancestors tested foods-as-medicine centuries ago, long before we came along and they saved them from their small, temporary ailments.
They didn’t have the same variety, environment, and processed gluten and dairy like we do today.
Those triggering factors vary in degrees between people and eczema types. We all have different skin.
But superfoods are good for most skins.
…Like broccoli, organic berries, apples, avocado, wild salmon, potatoes, and minimally processed foods like quinoa and white rice.
Idea: You can make white rice balls and serve with low-histamine foods like lean chicken, bell peppers, and root vegetables that you can add to a plate or a tasty turmeric soup bowl.
