Nurture Your Own

I think it is about time I shared my experience with sprouts. More accurately, with growing sprouts and of course eating them.

When my friends first started on this new lifestyle thing, I was along for the ride. Of course, we all chipped in and bought the sprout growing stuff. I think the experts called them “sprouters”. So, I followed the instructions and grew some sprouts. Confession: I never ate that first batch.

Sure, I read all the good stuff about enzymes and vitamins and all the sprouting goodness. I even read those eat raw stuff posts like “10 Great Benefits of Eating Raw Food & Juice“. But somehow, growing up with meat and potatoes has taken its toll on my ability to do what is good for me!

Anyway, to cut a long, really long story short - I did it. Over the weekend, last week, I decided to try. So, what I did was to get this recipe: “Chicken-Alfalfa Sprout Sandwich To Go“, and got down to it. This was my maiden attempt at eating raw, eating sprouts. I was proud of myself. Now, I would declare myself a national hero if this thing tasted as bad as I imagined it would. Unfortunately for my award-hungry self, the chicken-alfalfa sprout sandwich actually tasted quite good. I have always enjoyed a salad or two. But deliberately looking to eat sprouts, especially raw ones, well, I don’t do that too often.

For those of you who are as chicken (stubborn!) as I was, I would suggest to try. Eating sprouts ain’t half as bad as you think. In fact, I think I will try the curry recipe next - Sprouted Lentil Cucumber Curry Salad!

Highly Recommended for Additional Wisdom:

The Raw Secrets - The Raw Food in the Real World by Frederic Patenaude

We strive to encourage people to live a healthy lifestyle. This of course, includes a healthy diet, good exercise regime and generally sensible way of life. I just read this post by Deb about the Kimkins diet that was really scary.

People, a diet is not to DIE Tomorrow. According to Dictionary.com, a diet means:

a particular selection of food, esp. as designed or prescribed to improve a person’s physical condition or to prevent or treat a disease

It is a selection of food, it is not an ABSENCE of food. If it is weight-loss you want, there are many ways you can lose weight and still remain strong and healthy. Just on our small blog alone, we already have a few nice healthy recipes like the Chicken-Alfalfa Sprout Sandwich, Fresh Pineapple-Alfalfa Fruit Juice, and more. A diet is not about a lack of food, but rather, is about a wise selection of food. Read Vivienne’s take on the 10 Great Benefits of Eating Alfalfa Sprouts, and 10 Great Benefits of Eating Raw Food and Juice.

As you can see, there are many beneficial ways of enjoying your food and keeping yourself healthy at the same time. Don’t resort to drastic measures. If you are clinically obese, you can consult a qualified doctor or dietitian. But don’t go around chasing every fad that appears over the horizon. You have only one body, treat it well.

Highly Recommended:
Healthy-E-Meals.com for easy to prepare healthy recipes.
The Raw Secrets - The Raw Food in the Real World by Frederic Patenaude

Recent and related posts at this blog:
10 Great Benefits to Eating Alfalfa Sprouts
10 Great Benefits of Eating Raw Food & Juice
Alfalfa Sprouts Protect Against Cancers & Osteoporosis
Is it Safe to Grow Your Own Sprouts?
What About Eating Raw Foods?
Sprouts for body-building?
Eat Sprouts To Cure Eczema
Eat Sprouts to Treat Acne

Technorati Tags: diets, healthy recipe

Ever since I learned the 10 Great Benefits to Eating Alfalfa Sprouts, I do my best to include alfalfa sprouts in my diet. Since the enzymes were at its richest in raw stage, I don’t cook the alfalfa sprouts. The same applies to carrot. I just wash and add them to my bread.

It’s a quick fix and it’s a delicious meal when you wash it down with a glass of cold lemonade, honey or milk. Alternatively, you can also blend a fresh pineapple-afalfa juice drink. It’s a good change to eat in the comfort of my office compared to joining the hustle and bustle at the deli down the road. Sometimes, I much prefer to eat in the office with a good book.

The recipe is really simple and you can easily add more items to suit your taste buds.

Chicken-Alfalfa Sprouts Sandwich

2 tbsp alfalfa sprouts
2 tbsp carrots, shredded
1/2 cup chicken, skinned, boned, cooked and diced
1 tomatoes, diced
1/2 green peppers, diced
1/2 lettuce, shredded
1 tbsp ow-fat mayonnaise

To live well, you need to eat well. As a busy executive, I know it’s not easy to balance live well and eat well. We find it more convenient to grab a quick bite a fast food joints or pop a TV dinner in the microwave oven. You can consider joining the member’s only website that caters to busy people who want to live a healthy lifestyle! Recipes, snacks, fitness and motivation tips and more. All for one low price! I found this Healthy-E-Meals.com site, and you can check it out too if it has all the healthy recipes you need too.

Highly Recommended:
Healthy-E-Meals.com for easy to prepare healthy recipes.
The Raw Secrets - The Raw Food in the Real World by Frederic Patenaude

Recent and related posts at this blog:

Nutrients in Alfalfa Sprouts, Mung Bean, SoyBean, Wheat & Radish
10 Great Benefits to Eating Alfalfa Sprouts
10 Great Benefits of Eating Raw Food & Juice
Alfalfa Sprouts Protect Against Cancers & Osteoporosis
Is it Safe to Grow Your Own Sprouts?
What About Eating Raw Foods?
Sprouts for body-building?
Eat Sprouts To Cure Eczema
Eat Sprouts to Treat Acne

Technorati Tags: chicken-alfalfa sandwich, alfalfa sprouts, alfalfa recipe

I picked up this juice recipe, using pineapple and alfalfa sprouts, from Rio Caliente Hot Springs Health Spa. I like the idea of experiencing both the goodness of pineapple and alfalfa in just one single drink. How easy can that be?

Benefits of Pineapple
1. Pineapple is loaded with vitamins and minerals. Its nutrients include calcium, potassium, fiber, and vitamin C. In addition, it is low in fat and cholesterol.

2. One of the benefits of pineapple is that it helps to build healthy bones. Pineapples are rich in manganese, a trace mineral that is needed for building bone and connective tissues. Just one cup of pineapple provides 73% of the daily recommended amount of manganese. Pineapple can effect the growth of bones in young folks and the strengthening of bones in older people.

3. Pineapple is good for colds and coughs. While you can take extra vitamin C or drink extra orange juice when you got a cold, consider eating pineapple too. The benefits of pineapple are the same as the benefits of orange juice, but there is an additional benefit in the form of Bromelain. It has been found to help suppress cough.

I have discussed the 10 Great Benefits to Eating Alfalfa Sprouts in an earlier post. Essentially, alfalfa lowers cholesterol, contains enzymes, regulates bowel movements etc. It is found that the benefits of alfalfa are maximized when it is eaten raw. It will be helpful if you read the 10 Great Benefits of Eating Raw Food & Juice too.

Sweet & Healthy Pineapple-Alfalfa Juice

(serve 4 -6)

Ingredients
1/2 fresh pineapple, peeled and cored
1/2 lb. fresh alfalfa sprouts
1/4 cup fresh lemon juice
6 cups water
honey to taste
ice to taste

How to Prepare
Place all the ingredients into a blender.
Blend until smooth.
Strain and discard the pulp.
Add ice and honey.

To live well, you need to eat well. As a busy executive, I know it’s not easy to balance live well and eat well. We find it more convenient to grab a quick bite a fast food joints or pop a TV dinner in the microwave oven. You can consider joining the member’s only website that caters to busy people who want to live a healthy lifestyle! Recipes, snacks, fitness and motivation tips and more. All for one low price! I found this Healthy-E-Meals.com site, and you can check it out too if it has all the healthy recipes you need too.

Highly Recommended:
The Raw Secrets - The Raw Food in the Real World by Frederic Patenaude

Healthy-E-Meals.com for easy to prepare healthy recipes.

Recent and related posts at this blog:
What About Eating Raw Foods?
Sprouts for body-building?
Eat Sprouts To Cure Eczema
Eat Sprouts to Treat Acne
10 Great Benefits to Eating Alfalfa Sprouts
10 Great Benefits of Eating Raw Food & Juice
Alfalfa Sprouts Protect Against Cancers & Osteoporosis
Is it Safe to Grow Your Own Sprouts?

Technorati Tags: alfalfa sprouts, pineapple, benefits of pineapple , pineapple-alfalfa juice, fruit juice, vegetable juice, alfalfa juice, raw food, juice recipe

This tastes as good as it looks!

SPROUTED LENTIL CUCUMBER CURRY SALAD

Based on this recipe from VeganChef:

2 cups sprouted lentils
2/3 cup raw sunflower seeds
1/3 cup whole soaked flaxseed
1 cucumber, chopped
1 stalk scallions, chopped
1 whole tomato, chopped
2 Tb cold pressed extra virgin olive oil
2 TB fresh squeeze lemon juice
1 tsp oregano
2 tsp red curry powder
1 tsp red pepper flakes
1/2 tsp mustard powder

Just toss everything and serve. It’s really tasty and not too spicy. You can add more pepper flakes if you like it a little hotter, like me.

Highly Recommended: For those who enjoy great foods of famous restaurants, you can take a look at Copycat Recipes Cookbook. A fantastic resource of more than 750 recipes from top restaurants around the world!

Recent and related posts at this blog:
What About Eating Raw Foods?
10 Great Benefits to Eating Alfalfa Sprouts
10 Great Benefits of Eating Raw Food & Juice
Alfalfa Sprouts Protect Against Cancers & Osteoporosis
Sprouts for body-building?
Eat Sprouts To Cure Eczema
Eat Sprouts to Treat Acne
Sprouting - What Can You Sprout?

Technorati Tags: recipe, sprouts, sprouting, healthy food, healthy living, healthy cooking

Sprouts are an excellent source of vitamin C and also contain many good B vitamins. And you probably won’t find a less expensive way to get these vitamins than from low calorie sprouts. Green leafy sprouts are also a good source of vitamin A. Sprouts are a good source of fiber, protein, and contain enzymes that aid digestion. In addition, sprouting destroys the seed’s natural preservative enzymes that inhibit digestion (see Taarak’s post for a more entertaining explanation of this phenomenon).

There are so many ways to enjoy your raw sprouts. One of the easiest way is to blend a handful of sprouts into whatever you are juicing.

Here’s a “soup” that will give you lots of energy throughout the day. All you need is a blender.

Energy Soup - Southwest Style

1 cup sunflower sprouts (put in bottom of blender).
Add juice of 1 lemon.
Stuff blender with buckwheat and sunflower greens until full.
Fill blender 3/4 full of filtered or spring water.
Add flax sprouts or any other sprout on hand.

Blend until smooth.

Add avocado and blend 30 seconds more.
Serve in soup bowls.

As my kids would say, Easy-Peasy-Lemon-Squeezy

Do you have a favourite yummy recipe to share? We’d love to try it out! I’ve also got more Energy Soup recipes and a Nori Roll.

(Please check out my recipe for Sweet Sprout Slaw.)

Recent and related posts at this blog:
What About Eating Raw Foods?
Alfalfa Sprouts Protect Against Cancers & Osteoporosis
Sprouts for body-building?
Eat Sprouts To Cure Eczema
Eat Sprouts to Treat Acne
Sprouting - What Can You Sprout?

Technorati Tags: health recipe, sprouts, sprout recipe

My friend, Adele, is a great cook who can whip up a tasty meal in a jiffy. After she read my earlier posts that sprouts can treat eczema and acne, she emailed me this salad recipe. This will be really great for a light lunch or dinner.

Sweet Sprout Slaw

Choose One of the Sprouts to
- Broccoli
- Cabbage
- Long Life Mix and/or
- Any Other Brassica Sprouts

And another type of Sprouts

- Alfalfa
- Clover
- Moo Mix and/or
- Any Other Leafy Sprout
________________________________

Ingredients

- 1-2 Cups Cabbage or other sprouts
- 1-2 Cups Alfalfa Sprouts
- 1/2 cup pineapple - chopped
- 1/2 cup green grapes - halved
- 1/2 cup yogurt
- 1/4 cup mayonnaise
- 1 tsp. mustard
- salt to taste

Preparation

1. Combine sprouts and fruit in large bowl.
2. Mix up the other ingredients and pour over the sprout fruit mix.
3. Toss.
4. Serve Chilled

If I can do it, you can too. If you are one of those who enjoy great foods of famous restaurants, you must take a look at Copycat Recipes Cookbook. A fantastic resource of more than 750 recipes from top restaurants around the world!

Recent and related posts at this blog:
What About Eating Raw Foods?
Alfalfa Sprouts Protect Against Cancers & Osteoporosis
Sprouts for body-building?
Eat Sprouts To Cure Eczema
Eat Sprouts to Treat Acne
Sprouting - What Can You Sprout?

Technorati Tags: recipe, healthy food, organic food, health food