Homemade Vanilla Cashew Milk

This is one of those recipes where every time I make it, I'm wondering why I don't do it more often. It takes about 15 minutes max (with a tiny bit of prep before hand), and is only 4 ingredients or less if you want it to be. It's creamy, delicious, and the perfect with smoothies, coffee, golden milk, alone, you name it! You can also make this with many other types of nuts, but cashew is by far my favorite because of the taste and texture.

Cashew milk takes the tiniest bit of prep before you can make it... You have to soak the cashews! I throw them into a bowl and cover them with some filtered water and let them sit for about a day while I'm at work (or at least 4-6 hours). Once they're done soaking, the milk is so so easy to make. You will just need a couple of items: a really good blender (the ninja is great), and a cheese cloth (optional, but without it, there can be tiny cashew sediment in your milk). 

All you have to do is throw all the ingredients (water, cashews, maple syrup, and vanilla bean) into a blender, blend on high until everything is mixed well and liquified, and pour through a cheese cloth to strain the sediment out! Voila, you've got the yummiest, creamiest, cashew milk. I use it to make my golden lattes every morning... Maybe I should do a post on those too!?

Oh! I should mention that I usually do a double recipe because this goes super quick! It lasts in the fridge for about 3-4 days, but if you (and your significant other) both use it, it'll disappear quickly, I promise!

Ingredients:

• 1 cup cashews (soaked for about 6 hours or full day before hand)
• 3 cups filtered water
• 2 tbsp real maple syrup
• 1 vanilla bean, cut and scraped

Directions:

1. Throw the cashews in a bowl and cover in filtered water. Soak for about 6 hours beforehand.
2. Throw all ingredients into a blender and mix/blend thoroughly until liquified.
3. Strain milk through cheese cloth.
4. Enjoy. :)

Collagen

Oh collagen... My go-to health secret. I'm addicted to this stuff, and have been for quite a while now. I take it religiously every day, and I've really begun to see the benefits, mostly in my skin, but it does a lot more than just improve your appearance. Collagen has become pretty big in the recent months and has really taken off due to all the health benefits it offers. To summarize it, collagen is the most abundant protein in your body, and is really important for healthy skin, hair and nails. It's pretty much the main ingredient in bone broth, a recent fad I'm sure you've all heard about lately. So just like bone broth, it also helps to heal your gut.

Collagen is full of amino acids, ones that are normally produced by your body, but when you're sick, stressed, or just exposed to outside toxins (like we all are), your body may not produce these amino acids completely by itself... Hence supplementing with collagen or bone broth. Below are the lengthly benefits of collagen. I was sold by the time I read the first, and I'm sure you guys will be too! Here's why you all should be adding collagen to your daily routine:

1. Strengthens and adds elasticity to skin, hair and nails, and can also actually reverse the signs of aging.
2. Decreases cellulite: weakened collagen can cause cellulite to be more apparent, so supplementing with this will help to eliminate it.
3. Boots your metabolism: it increases energy levels and helps with muscle development
4. Gut healing: helps with leaky gut by soothing and helping to heal and repair the intestinal lining.
5. Improves sleep: Gylcine (in gelatin), has a anti-stress action, which promotes natural sleep.
6. Balances hormones and thyroid function.
7. Lubricates and heals your joints, as well as builds stronger bones.

What I love about collagen powder though, is that it is entirely tasteless (you can even put it in tea and you won't notice it), odorless, and dissolves completely in both hot and cold liquids. So unlike a lot of other supplement powders and such, you can add it to a variety of drinks, tonics or recipes and you won't even notice it. I love this because it allows me to get it into my diet daily, no matter what. Whether I'm drinking a smoothie, coffee or tea for breakfast, a scoop of collagen powder is always added! You can add it to many recipes to maximize the nutritional value too, and you'll reap the benefits. Some of my favorite recipes are below.

1. Tulsi Tea Jello
2. Ginger Honey Gummies (another flavor here)
3. Matcha Latte
4. Cake Batter Protein Bars
5. Pumpkin Pie Protein Bars

So what's the difference between collagen peptides and gelatin powder? Not a lot, but collagen is not exactly the same thing as gelatin because of the way it's processed. They both have the same amino acids, but different chemical properties. Collagen peptides are processed so that it will not gel when you add it to liquids, so it's great to use in both cold and hot liquids (smoothies, juices, tea, etc.). Gelatin turns into a gel when added to liquids, so this is great to add to recipes like I listed above, especially the jello and gummies. I have added it to hot tea before and it did dissolve, but I prefer to drink the collagen peptides because of the consistency. 

There are a couple different good brands that make these powders, but I highly recommend Vital Proteins. I have gone through about 4 cases of their collagen peptides already, and am thinking about trying the beauty greens one next! They also make a marine collagen version, for those of you who don't eat meat (but still consume seafood of course). The other great brand that makes this is Great Lakes. I own their beef gelatin, and this is what I add to recipes to make gummies and jello (or the occasional hot tea). If you're trying this out for the first time, I do recommend going with the collagen peptides as it is more versatile. 

The Ultimate Quinoa Bowl

This is my most frequently made dish by far - we do them at least once a week. Quinoa bowls are super easy and fast to make, plus they're healthy and delicious. I'm a fan of adding a fried egg on top, as well as avocado (always!), but you can do a ton of different combinations depending on what you prefer. 

To prepare my favorite, you'll need the following: 1 avocado, 1 sweet potato, a bunch of kale, 1 fried egg, and quinoa. Cook the quinoa according to the package (I believe it's one cup of quinoa to two cups of water or broth). I highly recommend using broth to cook the quinoa over water, because it makes it much tastier. I'd even go a step up and cook it in bone broth for a little extra nutrition and health benefits! I also love to add some turmeric to my quinoa once it is cooked for a major anti-inflammatory boost.

While the quinoa is cooking, bake the sweet potato and kale in the oven. Peel and dice the sweet potato and toss the cubes in 1 tbsp coconut oil, 1 tsp rosemary, salt and pepper. Place them on a tray lined with tin foil and bake at 350 degrees for about 30 minutes or until soft. As for the kale, remove the stalks and rip the kale into smaller pieces. Toss the pieces in 1 tbsp olive oil and salt and bake on another baking sheet for about 15 minutes or until crispy. Finally, heat a little bit of coconut oil in a frying pan and crack 1 (or however many eggs you want) in the pan and fry them. Another option would be to do poached eggs if you want to get really creative.

This is my absolute favorite quinoa bowl combination - it's warm, hearty, and savory, plus it's extremely filling and yummy. The fun thing thing about these bowls is that you can pretty much throw anything into them, depending on what you have in your fridge. Broccoli, carrots, zucchini, mushrooms, corn, pretty much any kind of meat, cheese, and so much more. You can also make a more refreshing bowl with mint, fruit, avocado and corn - this makes a great summer salad!

Ingredients:

• 1 medium sweet potato
• 1 avocado
• 2 eggs
• 2 cups cooked quinoa
• a bunch/handful of kale
• coconut oil
• 1 tablespoon of olive oil
• 1 teaspoon rosemary
• tumeric
• salt & pepper to taste

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