Try to tell me this does not look delectable. This is a great, refreshing dessert. I like to have it after a workout, due to the potassium from the banana. If you want it to feel more like a sorbet, feel free to add more strawberries. I find that using those single-serve blender containers is easiest when it comes to blending the fruit together. It is so easy and fast to make! And the cleanup is easy, as well – just put a little dish soap into the container, fill it up with water, and then blend the soapy water for 5-10 seconds. Rinse away and you’re done!
Ingredients:
4-5 frozen strawberries
1 frozen ripe banana
Let fruit sit out at room temperature for 10-20 minutes.
Add fruit into blender and blend until mixed thoroughly.
Do you realize how much money you’re wasting buying exfoliating products for your face? On top of that, most of those products use ingredients that are actually damaging to your skin! Let’s take it to the basics and make your own, using products from your own kitchen. Obviously you’ll need a small container to hold the scrub, and probably a tiny spoon or something of the sort to scoop out the scrub whenever you want to use it on your face.
As for the rest – only 5 ingredients. Here’s why:
Raw Turbinado Sugar – Turbinado sugar basically means raw cane sugar. Sugar is a natural source of glycolic acid, which boosts new cell production and breaks down the protein that keeps the dead cells hanging onto your skin. In other words, it breaks down the “glue” that bonds skin cells, encouraging cell turnover and generating fresher, younger-looking skin. Sugar is also a natural humectant, meaning it draws moisture from the environment into the skin, so it’ll actually help hydrate your skin and keep moisture within.
Sea Salt – Sea salt is full of trace minerals that rejuvenate your skin, stimulate cell growth, and help your skin retain moisture. Sea salt is a natural detoxifier, absorbing the toxins from the skin. It contains bromide (a mineral known for soothing the skin), potassium (aids in the reduction of water retention), and iodine (regulates metabolic processes on a cellular level).
Raw Honey – Raw honey is anti-bacterial, anti-viral, and anti-fungal, which you may have read in my section about the benefits of raw honey and cinnamon. It kills skin infections, including acne, reduces inflammation, and hydrates your skin. It helps to both quell existing inflammation and prevent future infections, and the sugars in honey act as natural humectants and emollients, which increase the water content and reduce dryness in the skin even after they have been washed off. The slight acidity of honey creates a healthy environment on the skin that promotes tissue healing and regeneration, and it also contains proteins, amino acids, vitamins, enzymes, minerals, probiotics and other components that it delivers to skin cells. Finally, the high antioxidant activity neutralizes blemish- and wrinkle-causing free radicals deep within the skin as well as on the surface, before they cause damage.
Olive Oil – Olive oil contains three major antioxidants: vitamin E, polyphenols, and phytosterols, which means it can protect the skin from premature aging, restore skin smoothness and help protect against UV rays, and helps prevent free radical damage to the skin. It enhances the exfoliation because as the crystals slough away dead skin, the olive oil deeply penetrates your skin to leave you glowing.
Tea Tree Oil – Tea tree oil has a ton of anti-fungal and anti-viral benefits, and it is an excellent treatment for acne. It can help neutralize or diminish the scar marks and after spots left by eruptions, boils, pox, and acne.
Here’s how to make it:
Ingredients (click ingredients to purchase through Amazon):
I hope to update this with better pictures because it tastes so much better than it looks! This is my first foray into incorporating more protein into my diet, since I’ve been working out more, and I wanted ways to include it, other than by throwing protein powder into green smoothies, so here we go! This is delicious and I can easily eat half the batch in one sitting – it makes about 8 pancakes, total. AND it’s gluten free! I learned that it’s easier to flip the pancakes if you make smaller pancakes. So try this super easy recipe for breakfast (or any other time)!
1 tbsp melted coconut oil, plus more for greasing the pan **
Grind flax seeds and combined with water to create a flax egg. This works best when the flax is freshly ground.
Blend hazelnuts and water, then strain through a nut milk bag or cheesecloth to create nut milk. It should make about 1 3/4 cup of milk. Set aside.
Whisk together oat flour, protein powder, baking powder, cinnamon, and sea salt.
Add flax egg, nut milk, vanilla extract, maple syrup, and 1 tbsp oil, and stir to combine.
Grease the pan with a little oil and pour some batter into the pan (probably a few tablespoons), cooking it on each side for a few minutes on medium-low heat. The pancake should be ready to flip when the bubbles stop or decrease significantly.
Serve with your favorite toppings.
* This is what will bind the batter.
** Coconut oil has a melting point of only 76º, so it doesn’t take much to melt. I suggest putting the oil in a container, holding it over a container of steaming water until the oil melts.
Looking for something cold, fruity, and sweet? Why not some ice cream? Oh, you’re worried because it’s not healthy? Easy – throw some frozen bananas in a blender! It’s yummy and healthy! I find that the blenders with the single-serve containers for smoothies work the best with blending the bananas, and are SO easy to clean! Afterwards, all you have to do is squeeze a little soap in the container, add water, blend, and then rinse off the residue!
Also, with the bananas – I let them sit until they’re super-ripe. Then, I peel the bananas and break them up into 2 or 3 pieces, then wrap each banana individually with plastic wrap and throw them in the freezer. When I want to use them, I let them sit out at room temperature for up to 10 minutes before blending.
So here are a couple super easy variations:
Raspberry Swirl
Blend 1 frozen banana.
Take a couple tablespoons (or more, if desired), of the raw vegan raspberry jam (click for recipe) and swirl it in.
Mango Ice Cream
Blend about 1/2 cup frozen mangoes (or more if desired).
Add frozen banana and blend until mixed thoroughly.
+ 3 tbsp warm water *
(or other nuts of choice) + 1 1/2 cups water
, ground into flour
(
, plus more for greasing the pan **
