Balanced diet recipes Archives - Page 5 of 12

Apple Smoothie Milkshake with Sweet Potato

Apple smoothie is a healthy fall-ish color drink you can smile about… and when paired with the balancing tastes of sweet potato and carrot, you’re also getting a trifecta of anti-inflammatory goodness with vitamins and beta-carotene that’s the orange rainbow compound good for eyes. 🌈

Plus these ingredients are easy to find year-round and is great for season transitions where hot and cold (life on ho-ld) meet. 😊 So that’s pretty much year-round for a year-round beverage option!

For a great breakfast smoothie, it’s as simple as cooking a sweet potato and 2 medium peeled carrots until soft.

Let them cool and then blend with milk and a chopped apple.

…Oh yeah, the apple is the star ingredient.

I chose a Red Delicious apple because it’s a bit more sweet than a green apple.

Red apples are the ones with quercetin that is buzz talk (or you may have heard of).

But green apples, like a famous tart Granny Smith is one of the most anti-inflammatory apples.

…So either red or green, you can’t go wrong when comparing apples to apples. 🍎🍏

And if you want to kick it up a notch, you can add a ‘lil cinnamon to give a better version taste like in cinnamon cereals, but without the added sugar.

…That’s huge!

And you can do the same tasty and anti-inflammatory goodness intentions with an apple smoothie milkshake (recipe below 🧃).

This drinkable shake is a breakfast meal (inside a drink) because it also has eggs.

apple milkshake with cinnamon and sweet potato. — An apple milkshake is all natural with real apples, eggs, sweet potato and cinnamon.

It’s a egg protein shake that’s bordering on ice cream for breakfast… that puts a smile on old faces especially when it’s hot enough outside. 😋

…Which btw, when you make homemade ice cream… it can be healthy with a few healthy ingredients.

So if you’re looking for a satisfying cool refreshing snack, this could be one to try that meets your hotter moods and sweet tooth.

…I remember as a child when I came home from the dentist after having cavities filled because I ate a lot of sugar… and I didn’t mind because I was always excited to have ice cream for dinner. 🍨

That was the sugar freak in me and still is today in a healthy living way.

And, maybe that’s what it’s like for you or someone in your household situation who wants to enjoy sweet, but lower the sugar intake.

I know I wouldn’t have liked a sophisticated (aka grown up) milkshake taste like apple-sweet potato.

But a vanilla milkshake… oh yes! or maybe even a Vanilla Cinnamon milkshake that’s closer to familiar common ice cream flavors that the little people like. 👧🏻

And then maybe grow up one day wanting to try other flavors they never liked before.

And if that’s what we’re up for, then adding a hint of natural peanut butter enhances the body’s absorption to an apple and sweet potato milkshake dessert snack-meal loaded with fat-soluble vitamins… plus another taste dimension!

Now that’s something to wake up for 🍎

And for a little detox kick, add a little ginger for a natural energy jolt⚡️to your souped up apple smoothie.

You can visit these links for more smoothie beverage recipe ideas and simple and delicious anti-inflammatory recipes.

Apple Smoothie Milkshake with Cinnamon

Ingredients

2 medium or large eggs
1 cup milk
1 medium apple
cinnamon to taste
1 tbsp peanut butter
1 small sweet potato, cooked soft
cardamom
ginger to taste (or zhugh on top)

Instructions

On low to medium stove heat in a pot, constantly stir eggs and milk until almost boiling (small bubbles). Then let cool in the refrigerator until cold.
Blend all the ingredients together. Then freeze.
Bring out to room temperature and enjoy! It's best to freeze the milkshake so it sets, and then add any leftover in the refrigerator if you do not finish.
If you want to build a (second) layer of the sweet potato, after you freeze the first layer, you can add the second layer. Easy peasy and you get to mix and enjoy all the flavors together when it has melted some.

Coffee Milkshake with Cold Brew (3-Ingredients)

Coffee milkshake is a nice option along with many coffee drinks out there… coffee lattes, macchiatos, cappuccinos… and the list keeps growing as coffee interest grows. ☕️

I was a late coffee bloomer if there’s such a thing… starting a morning routine decades into life.

It was a bitter acquired taste to my younger self.

But I realized after some years into the happy habit, around the 7-year switch (like allergy changes), that my gut couldn’t keep up with my cup o’ java demand… so I switched to homemade cold brew coffee.

Because I didn’t wanna give up my new healthy routine.

Afterall, black coffee is a healthy plant-based antioxidant beverage choice. Tea has its own special place in my drink world, but after noon. 🕛

…And with a cold brew coffee milkshake, you don’t have to choose, you can enjoy anytime of day!

It’s a great treat option (…yes/maybe?) especially when it’s still warm temperatures outside. And that can be closer to year round in these climate change days.

…So why not?

A coffee milkshake like this one is different because it has soft serve-style ice cream, and cold brew coffee.

Cold brew takes minutes to make or “brew.”

And just seconds if you’ve been on the cold brew coffee bandwagon for a while, and have your setup and coffee grounds available.

…I could make you a nice cup in a minute and it’d be ready to drink in that same minute. 😊

I started making cold brew daily in 2019.

That’s when I discovered that I could not have a regular morning coffee routine because of the acidity. Whether it was the fasting day next morning or it was breakfast time, my stomach needs water and food first!

…Maybe yours is like that too.

But I can enjoy cold brew coffee at ease with some small food (like a banana, yogurt, or some fiber) in the gut.

So if you have a sensitive gut or lining, that’s something to consider… and maybe you don’t have to give up a coffee habit or coffee morning routine if you don’t wanna.

…And this light creamy coffee milkshake is a nice complement.

You can keep adding cold brew to your milkshake that can be a breakfast shake (or more like a light cappuccino). 🧋

And it’s a healthy breakfast dessert drink because it’s light but also has egg protein. 🥚

With a plant-based milk like almond milk added, this does your body good. 🌱

Since cold brew coffee is less acidic in the process, you can start your morning with any ground coffee that you can sift through the coffee filter, that is “the brew” process in cold brew.

You can use light, medium, or dark black coffee grounds. Whatever suits your fancies.

And to top it all off, the optional sweet zhugh is chocolate shavings. If you use dark chocolate then you gain some additional healthy polyphenol anti-inflammatory points. 🎉

That’s all the sugar needed in this coffee milkshake drink, if any.

It’s not loaded with sugar like so many cool coffee beverages you buy that give even my inner child a sugar skin crawl attack just looking at how many grams of sugar. 😮

This milkshake can have no added sugar and be wickedly good!

…And not only is this a low-sugar beverage, you gotta love that this is 3-ingredient easy shake steps… where you focus mostly on the drinking enjoyment!

Coffee Milkshake with Cold Brew

Course Dessert

Cuisine American

Author Brandy @ Healthy Happy Life Secrets

Ingredients

⅓ cold brew coffee
⅓ milk (unsweetened almond milk recommended)
⅓ cup scoop of ice cream

Instructions

Hand mix ingredients. Enjoy!

Beet Smoothie With Blueberry and Ginger

Beet berry smoothie is one inviting drink that’s vibrant pretty to look at… and pretty gut healthy. Plus, tasty good!

Like a painting in creation, the Alizarin crimson hues in this beet red smoothie are deep saturated in color 🎨 and filled with rainbow polyphenol anti-inflammatory goodness.

More on this below…

Jump to Recipe

Ginger as a punchy spice ingredient is good for digestion and calming bloating symptoms.

It’s one of the power spices for digestive health. And even recommended for IBS patients.

Plus, adding ginger to a beet smoothie gives it a flavor pairing knock-out punch… that I’m all about coming from my catering days.

…And this one knocks you off your seat!

Ginger takes this beet drink from good to POW-WOW. 🤩

You may even skip a caffeine jolt as the flavors are awakening strong.

And if ginger is not a flavor vibe you’ve gotten accustomed to… (or maybe even detest today), I can totally relate.

…When I was a kid, my mom cooked ginger in meals. Not just hints of ginger spice, but actual whole chunks of ginger.

And that’s when I made a face ☹️ and didn’t want to eat food or anything that came within millimeters of the infected ginger taste.

But as our bodies change, our tastes also change.

Little did I know that ginger is Vata balancing.

And it’s surprising I started to like the taste of ginger decades later… it grew on me with ginger and cookies and gingerbread cookies. 😊

…And ginger chocolate.

…So, maybe those are the sweeter ginger tastes needed for you to see the value and bring ginger alive in your life. 😉

Crystallized ginger goes well with chocolate and is one of the happy foods (as it has a little bit of sugar). Sugar and spice is balancing.

You can even make a puzzle game out of it if that’ll bring in the likability factor.

And slowly your tide can change one ginger taste at a time and you find yourself one day drinking ginger water.

And graduate to a smoothie like this one where ginger is one of the star ingredients that gives this beet smoothie some good stars! 🌟

Along with a red apple, this is one anti-inflammatory beet smoothie.

Apples are high in quercetin that daily help us keep the doctor away. 🍎

…And finally, another star ingredient is the blended in super berries, like blueberries (and you can substitute or mix in with strawberries if you prefer).

So, that’s 4-anti-inflammatory ingredients in the smoothie if you’re counting. Anti-inflammatory is good for all ages, as you can never start too soon.

That makes this a super healthy berry beet smoothie slushie ride!

This is one punchy medley of a drink that you just can’t get in a regular fruit punch.

Are you ready to jump in?

And if you like blueberry smoothies, a Blueberry Cheesecake Smoothie or Blueberry Pina Colada smoothie are others to try.

Beet Berry Ginger Smoothie

It's gonna be hard to beat this berry punchy smoothie drink.

Course beverage

Cuisine American

Author Brandy @ Healthy Happy Life Secrets

Equipment

blender

Ingredients

beet, canned (or chopped beetroot and water)
berry mix (blueberries and/or strawberries)
1-2 tsp ginger powder
1 medium apple

Instructions

Use a can of beets with juice.
Add berry mix (1:1 ratio) and chopped apples.
Add ginger powder. Tip: use fresh ginger powder that hasn't expired.
Blend. Enjoy!

Fresh Peach Juice Healthy Drink Ideas

Fresh peach juice is a great cold summertime drink you can make with a summer glow or sunrise effect. 🌅 And if you want to make your drink taste like a peach pie without the fat calories, you can also do that with the steps below…

When you add enough cinnamon, you will get a delicious sweetness pairing that tastes like a peach pie or dessert. 🥧

peach galette to go with fresh peach juice. — A whole wheat peach galette is a whole way to get your peach-fill. 🍑

But you can also keep it cool (and the hot oven off!) with an easy fresh cold peach juice drink.

Just add cinnamon that’s an Ayurvedic balancing spice for Vata that’s calming and sweet. That’s what I’m talkin’ about!

There are two common types of cinnamon: Cassia and Ceylon.

For this drink, you’ll want to use the Cassia cinnamon that’s the common cinnamon spice you find in most grocery store spice aisles.

Even the easy to find Vietnamese cinnamon is more like the Cassia type.

It’s the tastier cinnamon version that is great for baking with. Ceylon is the more anti-inflammatory one good to add to drinks like tea or coffee.

And with Cassia cinnamon, this flavor paired drink will transform and turn into a peach pie… and maybe remind you a bit of old fashioned apple pie from the enhanced heavy sprinkle of cinnamon spice… 🥧 You’ll want to mix in a dollop and not a dust.

For the peach juice part: fresh peach juice is easy to make with a blender and when peaches are ripe and super soft. That usually takes time from when you buy from the market.

And that can be a good thing…

For a later date juice (or delay in making the juice), you can ripen in a controlled environment…

Put your peaches in your fridge fruit or crisper drawer that’s lower humidity than other parts of the fridge, where fruit will ripen faster and stay fresh. You can preserve your peaches for weeks.

When you’re ready to make your fresh peach juice drink, it will already be ready to serve cold because the peaches are cold.

Quicker Peach Ripening Method:

…Or if you keep peaches out at room temperature in a fruit bowl, they’ll ripen even faster if you’re ready to make your drink as they go from ripe to rot pretty quickly.

This way, you’ll chill your drink after making it.

Either ripening way works. It’s 6-of-one half-dozen the other as we used to say in catering. The mantra is the same and your preference liking.

…Make it slow or fast based on a calendar is the question.

Either way when you start the home fresh peach juice making process, a fresh peach drink can be on your menu as a next day chilled morning beverage instead of mango or orange juice…

That’s good for Vata variety.

And with peaches, you can also get a special sunrise effect when you add water that brightens the day. 🌅

A morning sunrise fresh peach juice drink.🌅

The simple steps are below 🍑

You can turn your juice into a refreshing sweet peach-ade with a little lemon juice instead of a tart lemonade.

Peach is an abundant seasonal summertime fruit favorite and staple. It’s bright, juicy, and high in Vitamin A and C antioxidants.

You can also make one other summertime favorite: old-fashioned porch peach sun tea… that’s a great way to celebrate a summer break! ☀️

Old Fashioned Summer Porch Tea from Fresh Peach Juice

You can take a large glass jar and brew old-fashioned summer tea that’s super easy to make. I’m pretty sure that comes from my adult southern roots living in the Carolinas. 😉

You would basically pour fresh water into a glass jar that has a lid. Then set the tea bags in the jar, using about 4 tea bags for a 6-cup or 3-pint jar.

A classic brisk tea like Lipton gives a super crisp or brisk tea taste.

The bags conveniently have strings, so you can easily tie the bag strings together and hang the labels over the top opening and then secure the lid.

Then set the jar outdoors on a patio that gets sun for at least part of the day. You don’t have to boil water.

And like magic 🪄, you have sun tea in about a day or two. You can leave outside longer for an even more raw, brisk tea taste.

When it’s done, refrigerate or add ice cubes and enjoy!

And finally, with peaches you can use also add fresh diced peaches into your drink or daytime Sangria mocktail for some zhugh and sunny hues.

How fun in the sun, right?

And if you’re peach inspired and don’t want to stop there (or still have extra peaches you don’t know what to do with), you can make a peach profiterole that could take the summer peach vibes to a whole ‘nother (baking) level! 🍑

Print Recipe

Fresh Peach Juice Sunrise

Course beverage

Cuisine American

Author Brandy @ Healthy Happy Life Secrets

Equipment

blender

Ingredients

½ cup diced peaches
½ cup water
Cassia cinnamon spice to taste

Instructions

Blend softened ripe peaches leaving about 1/3" or 1 cm to top of glass. You can add a little water if you prefer less concentrated juice. For peach pie drink: blend in cinnamon spice to taste.
For the sunrise effect, add fresh cold water to fill up to the top of the glass. Bottoms up!

Light Pina Colada – No Coconut Cream

A light Pina Colada is a dessert drink just like a regular Pina Colada with coconut cream that is usually a star ingredient.

And if you want to save the heavy calories… and still have a delicious copycat tropical drink, you can make my Light Pina Colada version. Recipe below. 💕

I think this is a drink dream come true.💭

And a deliciously light tropical smoothie is a great add-on drink for staying cool in hot weather. 🧉

Actually, any Pina Colada is cooling. This one comes to mind as was one sweet drink that gave tropical vacation vibes. 🏖️

The problem with this drink is classic… as in a classic Pina Colada version is high calories and sugar.

It’s heavy like a meal. And not a good one.

But, the good news is…

Instead, you can make a healthy, frozen light coconut water tropical smoothie version at home that’s delicious and easy to make.

…And it has no added sugar as fruit will serve as the sugar. Sometimes with all our variety choices, we forget coconuts are fruit too. 🥥

And from the fruits (like pineapple), this is a Vitamin C loaded drink that’s good for boosting the immune system. C is also an antioxidant (aka anti-cancer) that’s water-soluble, so it’s unlikely you’ll take too much. 😊

So this vitamin powerful drink, you can make for everyday healthy drinks. And if you want, add your ginger for a punchy smoothie digestif.

It’s your drink!

…And it’s cool triple layered one if you dare make the American flag colors 🇺🇸 or another (your) country’s flag colors. You can make any color palette with your taste palate and fruit rainbow polyphenol colors. 🌈

Sound interesting? 🤔

If so, it’s simple to make this drink…

C’mon, let’s make this…

We start with the flag layers.

Jump to Recipe

Btw, this red, white, and blue one is good anytime of year and especially July 4th Independence Day celebrations. I got a sparkler window show. 🎇

…And then after you’ve made the frozen flag, you’ll end up with this changing colors cool drink as you witness time passing. You may want to make two drinks at a time for yourself.

…One light Pina Colada tropical smoothie you can watch, and another one you can enjoy in the moment. 🍍🍍 Gotta love healthy and happy!

Light Pina Colada Smoothie - No Coconut Cream

Author Brandy @ Healthy Happy Life Secrets

Ingredients

frozen blueberries
Blue matcha tea, brewed and cooled
coconut water
pineapple juice puree from a fresh pineapple
cherry juice or frozen strawberry juice pressed
pineapple wedge (for zhughing)
ginger powder or minced ginger (optional)

Instructions

Add first layer of blueberries and blue matcha tea to your drinking glass. Freeze.
After the first layer is solidly frozen, add coconut water layer. Freeze.
Add red juice layer. Freeze.
Add pineapple juice on top. Tip: use fresh pineapple chunks and blend up so there's a thicker juice pulp puree that makes this drink good food drama and taste. Add your pineapple wedge. Enjoy and watch the drink melt like moving colored sand!