Christina Najjar

Pumpkin Spice Smoothie (Paleo, Vegan)

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For someone who doesn’t eat sugar, the struggle to find a pumpkin spice smoothie recipe can be real. Recipes tend to be sweetened with bananas, maple syrup, or honey (or any combination of these). For those who can tolerate natural sugars, that’s great.

Pumpkin Pie Spice Smoothie Christina Najjar

I’ve been focusing on completely sugar free foods for a number of reasons lately. For one, my hormones haven’t been cooperating with me. Over the last two months, all my sugar has come from vegetables (except for the occasional alcoholic beverage). It’s funny how much of a difference that alone can make. My energy levels are up, my moods are more stable, cramps have significantly reduced, and I’m more in control of my body in general.

The other main reason I’ve been experimenting with sugar free foods is that there has been a need for it with my clients. People who find their way to my office have all kinds of health concerns that require completely cutting out sugar. This ranges from Lyme Disease to leaky gut (digestive disturbances) and PCOS.

And of course, the issue that most people who go see a nutritionist have in common, adrenal fatigue, improves much faster without eating sugar. Click here to read more about adrenal fatigue. It’s the kind of health issue that needs to be addressed right away to improve most other health concerns.

This pumpkin spice smoothie is surprisingly good. I was actually kind of skeptical it would be palatable when I was making it. I find that protein powders have a way of reducing the enjoyment factor of most smoothies. Usually, the stevia is too overpowering for me. It just blended right in with this recipe though. The texture is also great. It’s thick and creamy, no chunkiness. It tastes like a dessert which is perfectly acceptable to have for breakfast.

Pumpkin Spice Smoothie (Paleo, Vegan)

Ingredients
1/2 cup ice
1 cup unsweetened non-dairy milk (I used my homemade almond milk)
1/2 cup pumpkin puree
1 scoop vanilla protein powder (I used Genuine Health Fermented Vegan Proteins+)
1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
1/8 tsp ground nutmeg
1/8 tsp ground cloves
1/8 tsp allspice
OR can sub in pumpkin pie spice instead of cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, and allspice
Optional: A few drops of Stevia

Directions
Combine all the ingredients in a blender in the order listed. Serve right away. Makes 2 cups (1 serving).

Make Your Own Coconut Milk (paleo, vegan, sugar free)

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If, like me, you go through tons of coconut milk, it may be advantageous for you to start making your own. First of all, it’s more economical. I can make it for $1 (or less) using coconut shavings, or I can buy it for $3.29 in Ottawa. Additionally, making your own is healthier. You get to control what goes into your milk; no weird binding agents or preservatives.

I’ve also been trying to be more conscious of reducing my waste. I could easily go through 2 tetra packs of coconut milk per week. That waste accumulates really quickly! I would much rather use and reuse my mason jars.

Coconut milk you can make at home

Make Your Own Coconut Milk (paleo, vegan, sugar free)

What you need
1 cup shredded coconut
3 cups boiling water
Blender
4 cup (1L) mason jar
Funnel
Fine mesh strainer or nut milk bag

What you do
Combine the boiling water and the shredded coconut in the blender. LET IT COOL DOWN. I didn’t wait, and I ended up burning myself. Because of the higher temperature, more pressure is required on the blender lid to stop it from overflowing. Avoid accidents by letting it cool down.

Once cooled down, blend for a few minutes. You won’t be able to get rid of all the coconut pieces so blend it until it’s to your desired thickness. Then, if you’re using a strainer, place your funnel in the jar mouth and the strainer on top of the funnel, and pour the coconut milk. If you’re using the nut milk bag, place it in a bowl and pour the coconut through the bag.

You can add a bit of vanilla and a liquid sweetener for taste, but it’s not necessary, if you want to skip that step.

Refrigerate for up to 5 days. A solid block of fat will form at the top. This can be blended in smoothies or heated to melt.

Any-Flavour Green Smoothie Template

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Breakfast on the go. That’s how I try to live my life. I know, it’s terrible, but it’s an improvement. At least I try to actually eat something now. Or drink it, in the case of this green smoothie. I’ve been walking to work for the last two weeks, now that the weather is nicer, and that my bus pass has expired. I feel that $96 a month is a bit steep for a 5-10 minute bus ride, especially when the alternative is vitamin D and exercise.

My breakfast method is the following: make a green smoothie while I get ready in the morning, pour it in my reusable bottle, and drink it whenever I have to wait for the pedestrian light to pop up at intersections. Since I’m going to stand around and wait anyway, I might as well do something useful. If you think I should just drink my smoothie while walking, you’ve never seen what kind of a clumsy disaster I can be.

If you’re detoxing, try replacing the milk substitute with water. Milk substitutes can often be quite processed, which makes them less detox friendly. You can add a sugar free sweetening syrup instead to improve the taste.

Any flavour green smoothie template

Any-Flavour Green Smoothie Template

Ingredients
1 cup frozen fruit (I like raspberries)
1 ripe banana
1 cup greens (spinach is my favourite, or try kale, parsley, romaine lettuce, beet greens, chard, carrot leaves,  or dandelion leaves)
1 cup milk of choice (water can be used for detox, raw, paleo, etc.)
1-2 tbsp seeds (hemp hearts, chia, and flax are my favourites)
Optional: sweetener of choice to taste

Directions
Combine all the ingredients in a blender. The order that works best in my blender is (bottom to top) greens, frozen fruit, banana, seeds, and then milk. Find the order that works for yours. Blend for two minutes or until nice and smooth.

1 Cup Quick Hot Cider

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1 cup quick hot cider

Mother nature is really testing us this year. Well, I guess it is every year. I’m not sure what to make of the seemingly never ending winter, and then the sudden onset of summer, then skipping back to spring. After having had a bout of really nice weather, spring feels a bit cold. On any given day, I’d love a cup of hot cider, but with the recent colder weather, cider is even more welcome.

Back in the day, I bought a lot of hot ciders at Second Cup. Then I discovered powdered hot cider mix, and I stopped spending so much money at Second Cup. Despite having access to easy mix, nothing is as good as actual hot cider, with real ingredients and all.

A lot of recipes online call for whole cloves and cinnamon sticks that you simmer in a large pot of apple cider for 45 minutes or so, but when you live alone and want one quick cup, it seems like an awful lot of work. This recipe calls for ground spices instead to skip the long prep time, which means that the spice will settle with the pulp at the bottom of the mug. If that bothers you, you can always give it a good stir, but I didn’t notice a difference.

1 Cup Quick Hot Cider

Ingredients
1 cup bottled apple cider – the good stuff with the pulp that settles at the bottom
1/8 tsp (scant) ground cloves
1/8 tsp (scant) ground nutmeg
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp brown sugar (optional)

Directions
Combine all ingredients in a small saucepan. Slowly bring to a boil over low-medium to medium heat. Pour in a mug. You can add a cinnamon stick or a slice of apple to serve. This recipe can easily be multiplied to serve more.

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