Tag Archives: cinnamon

Fall weather is approaching and my home was getting cold, so I had to bake something to warm up the place.  Luckily, I always keep a batch of bananas ripening in my home (because you can always freeze them for later use) so it was perfect for some glorious gluten free, vegan banana bread!  The bananas make the bread naturally sweet and moist.  What I love about this bread is that it’s pretty much guilt-free.  I can eat half the loaf and not feel guilty because I’m getting potassium as well as protein (about 39 grams per loaf)!

I also added in some wheatgrass powder for an additional nutritional boost, which is totally masked by the rest of the wonderful flavors in the bread!  Wheatgrass has a TON of benefits, including a ton of minerals, vitamins A, B-complex, C, E, I, and K, protein, 17 amino acids (the building blocks of protein), chlorophyll (a blood builder), and an enzyme to slow down the aging process.  It neutralizes toxins in the body, helps purify the liver, and improves digestion, among so many other benefits!

As with all my recipes, if you click on the links in the ingredients, you’ll be directed to the Amazon page for that ingredient!

Ingredients:

• 4 medium, very ripe bananas, mashed
• 1/2 cup coconut oil, melted* (plus extra to grease the pan)
• 1/2 cup coconut sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1/4 tsp cinnamon powder
• 1/8 tsp or a pinch ground nutmeg
• 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1 1/2 cups gluten free oats, ground into flour
• pinch sea salt (optional)
• 1 tbsp wheatgrass powder and 1 tbsp maple syrup (optional)

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Grease a loaf pan with coconut oil.
3. Mash the bananas.  You can do it by hand or put it in a blender.
4. Mix in melted oil, sugar, vanilla extract, cinnamon, and nutmeg.
5. Fold in baking powder, baking soda, oat flour, and salt.
6. Add in wheatgrass powder and maple syrup, if using, and stir until combined.
7. Pour into loaf pan and bake for 35-40 minutes.
8. Serve warm.  Coconut oil can solidify at cooler temperatures, which would make the bread dense.  Just reheat the bread when serving.  I suggesting wrapping a slice in aluminum foil and placing it in the toaster oven until the slice is heated thoroughly.

* To melt coconut oil, place oil in small bowl.  Set the bowl over a cup of hot water.  The steam from the water will heat the bottom of the bowl, which will melt the coconut oil.

Try not to eat it all at once!

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)!

Ingredients:

• 1 tbsp flax seeds + 3 tbsp warm water *
• 3/4 cup raw hazelnuts (or other nuts of choice) + 1 1/2 cups water
• 1 1/2 cups gluten free oats, ground into flour
• 1 scoop vegan protein powder (click here for the one I used)
• 1 tbsp baking powder
• 1 tbsp ground cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp sea salt
• 1 1/2 tbsp vanilla extract
• 2-3 tbsp maple syrup
• 1 tbsp melted coconut oil, plus more for greasing the pan **

1. Grind flax seeds and combined with water to create a flax egg.  This works best when the flax is freshly ground.
2. 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.
3. Whisk together oat flour, protein powder, baking powder, cinnamon, and sea salt.
4. Add flax egg, nut milk, vanilla extract, maple syrup, and 1 tbsp oil, and stir to combine.
5. 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.
6. 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.

Oh My Deliciousness!!  This is so amazing, you’d have a hard time believing it’s whole and nutritious!  Gently cooked vegan, gluten free pancake cinnamon rolls – now you can have your guilty pleasure breakfast food without the guilt!  I LOVE it when food not only bursts with flavor in your mouth BUT your body also gets to reap the benefits of the nutrients.  I didn’t bother cleaning my blender between uses, aside from a quick rinse.  For those of you who are against using raw honey, you can replace it with maple syrup but the taste will be significantly different.

Ingredients to be done first:

• 3/4 cup raw almonds, soaked at least 1 hour (preferably overnight)
• 1 1/2 cup filtered water

Batter Ingredients:

• 1 cup rolled oats (or oat flour)
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/4 tsp sea salt
• 1/4 tsp cinnamon
• 1/8 tsp nutmeg
• 2 small ripe bananas
• 2 tsp maple syrup
• 1/2 tbsp coconut oil, melted
• 1 tsp vanilla extract

Filling Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup raisins
• 3 tbsp raw honey (I use the solid kind, so if you prefer the liquid kind, I do not know how runny the result will be)
• 2 tsp cinnamon
• pinch sea salt

Icing Ingredients:

• 2 tbsp raw coconut butter
• 1/4 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 tbsp maple syrup

Directions:

1. Drain almonds and blend with water.  Strain through a nut milk bag and set aside liquid.  This is your almond milk.
2. Preheat oven to 225º and heat a little coconut oil on a large pan on low heat.
3. Grind oats, then add baking powder, sea salt, cinnamon and nutmeg and blend.  Set aside.
4. Add remaining batter ingredients plus 1/2 cup of the almond milk to blender or food processor and blend.
5. Add dry ingredients to wet ingredients in blender and blend.
6. Pour half the batter onto the pan and cook it on medium low until bubbles start popping and the bottom of the batter becomes light to medium brown in color.  You want to spread out the pancake wide and fairly thin.
7. Flip batter and cook on the other side for a few minutes, leaving it mostly undercooked.
8. Repeat with the rest of the batter, making 2 large pancakes.
9. Meanwhile, blend the filling ingredients until it is fairly smooth.
10. Spread the filling mixture evenly onto both pancakes, stopping about half an inch from the edges.
11. Roll the pancakes and cut the roll about 2″ apart, making 2″ high cinnamon rolls.
12. Place the rolls back onto the pan and put the pan into the oven for about 10 minutes.
13. While that is cooking, melt coconut butter.  An easy way to do this is to place coconut butter in a shallow cup or bowl, and place the cup or bowl inside a larger bowl filled with very hot water.  If you stir constantly, the coconut butter should melt within a couple minutes.
14. Blend melted coconut butter with the remainder of the ingredients and 1.5-2 tbsp of the almond milk.  If you have any leftover almond milk and feel uneasy about throwing it out, add a little bit of vanilla extract and maple syrup and enjoy a small beverage!
15. Once the rolls are done baking, remove and drizzle icing over the rolls for some soft, gooey deliciousness!

Sinus congestion is horrible – not being able to breathe, going through boxes of tissues, restless nights, etc.  If you want to relieve it without resorting to medicine, here’s what to do:

1. Use a neti pot once a day.  The neti pot will irrigate your sinuses, freeing up some of the congestion and washing out some of the stuff stuck in there that may be causing the congestion in the first place.
2. Take raw honey and cinnamon 3 times a day.
3. Drink at least 16 ounces of green juice for breakfast every day.
4. Get upside down!  Going upside down will also help free up some of the congestion.  It will be hard at first because you won’t be able to breathe at all through your nose but stay upside down and you’ll notice the congestion starts getting looser and moving around.
5. Massage your face to loosen things up.  I use my fingers to massage the area between my cheekbones and my nose, the area below my eyes, in outward circles.  Also try massaging the area outside of the eye cavity, just above the nose but below the brows, as well as your cheekbones.
6. After a hot shower, immediately blow your nose.
7. AVOID DAIRY!  Dairy already causes mucus buildup in your body (albeit in the colon, not the nose) but you will make your body work even harder to get rid of the sinus congestion if you consume dairy.  In fact, you should ideally stick to as much of a raw vegan diet as you can.  Also try eating spicy food.

And there you go!  If you do all of these, you’ll notice major strides within a day or two, and should be able to completely kick the congestion’s butt soon after that.

Previous Detox Post – Benefits of Raw Honey and Cinnamon

Next Detox Post – Easy Morning Detox – Warm Lemon Water (With Cayenne)

There are so many benefits to this concoction but on top of it, it’s delicious.  I drink hot water with raw honey and cinnamon every day.  Typically, I add 1 tbsp raw honey and 1 tsp cinnamon to about 1 cup of water.  It’s also just a great way to add fluids to your diet if you don’t like to drink water.

Get them here:

Out of the slew of purported benefits, I can definitely personally attest to a few of them.

Relieves sinus congestion – I’ve had a couple experiences of something entering my nasal passages and causing sneezing fits and my sinuses to get majorly congested.  I know one was from the air conditioning at work and the other I am guessing was some sort of dust that lodged itself deep into my nose.  When that happens, I aim for 3 cups a day of this concoction, and let me tell you, it really does the trick.  I will literally feel some sort of relief immediately after drinking, and complete relief within a few days.

Kicks sicknesses – On a similar note…I haven’t been sick in 9 years so I can’t say for myself, but I did tell people to try this out when I saw that they were sick.  One of them now drinks it every day too because of that, and the other told me it normally takes her 10 days to get better but instead, she got 90% better over the weekend!  For you skeptics out there, she started drinking on a Thursday or Friday, not on a Monday or something.

Aids digestion– Drinking this helps get things moving in your colon.  It might be beneficial to drink it before a meal.  Based on personal experience (and the testimony of someone else I know), it seems that the more junky the food you have inside you, the more likely your body will push things out of your colon…so maybe it’s a detoxifier as well.  I’m going to go with it.

Other benefits include:

• lowers cholesterol and strengthens the heart
• relieves (and maybe even cures) arthritis
• prevents bladder infection by destroying the germs in the bladder
• cures stomachaches and clears stomach ulcers
• relieves gas
• strengthens the immune system and protects the body from bacterial and viral attacks
• kills the influenza virus
• keeps skin fresh and soft, and slows down the aging process
• removes pimples (apply a daily paste of 3 tbsp raw honey and 1 tsp cinnamon powder on pimples at night, wash in the morning with warm water)
• cures skin infections like eczema and ringworm (apply equal amounts on affected parts)
• weight loss by drinking in the morning before breakfast and at night before sleeping (supposedly, it does not allow the fat to accumulate in the body)
• cures cancer (based on research in Japan and Australia)
• helps fatigue and increases the vitality in the body
• prevents bad breath (gargle 1 tsp of each with hot water in the morning)
• restores hearing if taken daily, morning and night, in equal parts

Digestive Tea

Now, having said all that, I am going to include a bonus recipe.  This is a delicious tea with beneficial digestive properties.  The lemon aids in clearing out your liver, the ginger improves the absorption and assimilation of nutrients to the body and soothes the stomach and colon, and the raw honey and cinnamon has all the benefits I just stated above.  So try it out!  I make this tea on the weekends, since it’s harder for me to slice ginger and squeeze lemon at work.

Makes 1 serving.

Ingredients:

• 1 cup hot water
• a few thin slices ginger root
• 1/4 – 1/2 lemon, freshly squeezed
• 1 tbsp raw honey
• 1 tsp cinnamon powder
• previously steeped tea (optional)

Mix all ingredients together.

The reason I add the previously steeped tea is to add flavor, and once tea has been steeped already, it has been naturally decaffeinated.  Enjoy!

Previous Detox Post – What Do I Put In My Juice?

Next Detox Post – How to Naturally Relieve Sinus Congestion