-
Homemade Chai Concentrate {+ Video}
Making your own Chai Concentrate at home means you can make this warming spiced tea to suit your exact personal tastes and it’s far easier than you might think. Make sweetened or unsweetened and adjust the spices to your personal taste. Use any milk or non-dairy substitute you like and serve it hot or over ice.
Homemade Chai Concentrate. This recipe is nearly 7 years old, at this point, and it’s still a major favorite of mine. It’s so so easy to make and you can customize your own recipe to exactly what you are looking for in your chai. I like mine spicy, with a strong tea flavor and with a subtle sweetness, if any at all. I personally find the packaged chai concentrates from the grocery store and at most coffee shops to really lack that nice spiced flavor I love and many times they are just far too sweet for me. Most are loaded with preservatives and other less than desirable ingredients. Why though?
Chai is one of my favorite, comforting drinks to cozy up with, especially in the colder months. Plus, with the holidays upon us, it’s important to note that this is the perfect thoughtful handmade gift to bottle up and give to your chai-loving friends. Package with a cute label (FREE download included below for my printable labels you can easily customize) or label and enjoy the smiles and praise.
-
Anti-Inflammatory Turmeric Golden Milk {+ Video}
Before you beat me to the punch, I will stop you right there, I realize that golden milk has become a bit of a “golden child” (pun intended) in the food blogging world. I am not the first to share a golden milk recipe and I am sure I won’t be the last. It’s a buzz food, currently and I am not one bit mad about it, I love the stuff, I have been enjoying it for years. I decided to still go ahead and share my personal recipe here on the site, despite the mass amount of golden milk recipes floating around the web, with the intent to share with you some important bits, tips and thoughts often left out, in regards to the proper means to assimilating all of the many benefits of turmeric.
The term “superfood” has certainly become a bit of a buzzword in recent years, an often overused term, at that. Often, these foods that have been used for healing for many centuries become adopted by modern culture and as the foods become more readily available, we reap the benefits. Win win! But, people tend adopt these foods and run wild making claims for health and healing, often without doing the research for themselves or fully understanding the claims they are making. Unfortunately, often, much like the phone call game we played as kids, the details and important facts can be lost along the way.
Before I get into what is often left out and what we aren’t always told, let’s talk about the benefits! Turmeric and curcumin, the well-studied main bioactive component of turmeric, have been found to promote health and protect against a wide variety of health conditions.
-
Grain-free Pumpkin Pie with Gingersnap Macaroon Crust and Cinnamon Vanilla Meringue
Don’t send a Thanksgiving lynching mob after me, but I generally don’t care too much about pies. I am already not a huge dessert person, but if I am going to have a little something sweet, I’d probably always opt for chocolate. Gimme this Dark Chocolate Pumpkin Tart and I’ve got everything I need. But, I am fully aware that pies are part of holiday spreads for a reason, pies go with Thanksgiving like peanut butter to jelly. I am currently also painfully aware of baking’s ability to heal and it’s important role in relieving stress, something I have personally been in great need of since the election. So here we are, with an epic pumpkin pie that will change the minds of even the greatest pie skeptics.
I have always loved the idea of a pumpkin pie, as I am a big fan of pumpkin-spiced everything, but generally I find many pumpkin pies to be just a tad lacking. First, it’s just your standard pie crust, nothing too special there, not a ton of flavor, then the pumpkin filling gets a little spicing and maybe you top it all with a little whipped cream. To me, it just always feels like it’s missing a little something. It lacks a little dessert flair. I also find that when you add adequate spices and a sweetener with some depth, beyond just standard refined white sugar, the color of a finished pumpkin pie just ends up pretty drab. Beigy brown toasted edge crust, a orangey-brown filling. I dunno, I feel like we can do better than this you guys!
-
Immune Boosting Chia Pudding
With the stress and hustle of the holidays upon us and for so many of us, this also means traveling, our immune systems are certainly working overtime right now to keep balance within our body and to promote overall wellness and vitality.
It’s inevitable we are exposed to more this time of year and our immune system often struggles in these compromised settings. With or without travel, this busy time puts an extra stress on our bodies, which in turn can stress our immune systems. Besides the usual basics, like staying hydrated, getting lots of sleep, treating your body well with nutrient-rich fresh, whole foods and some much needed movement, I also think any extra boosts you can include, certainly can’t hurt and should be considered whenever possible. Read the rest of this entry »
-
Grain-free Blackberry Earl Grey Mini Muffins
Part of living with dietary challenges is learning to find joy in events and celebrations without your traditional go-to foods! We all have been there and we can attest that the struggle is real! It’s really real. I know many of you will call me crazy for this next admission, but at times I find so much joy in creating foods that I myself cannot currently have, just because I want to share them with others. I am not talking about gluten-containing baked goods, I reserve that for once or twice a year when the hubby makes a special request. More, I am talking about the occasional times I find that I am avoiding a food or foods for an elimination diet or whatever reason.
Most times this desire to create for others goes hand-in-hand with baking for a special occasion. So I think I would like to rename all of this to “baking therapy”. For me, there is just something so special about spending time in the kitchen, with the oven heating up and bringing that comforting warmth, whipping up a recipe and then smelling the glorious aromas from the oven as your creation bakes. I suppose it reminds me of my mother and my sister. Both love to bake and do so for nearly every special occasion. For the last 10 years of me being gluten-free, although I couldn’t eat 95% of what they made, I took great comfort in knowing that the creations that they lovingly made would be there. I also love watching the happy faces of everyone enjoying those creations, whether or not I can be part of it personally.
-
Chai Spiced Coconut Fig Popsicles {Vegan}
Though the end of summer is just around the corner, I would say it is hard to know that at times here in Southern California. We had some pretty hot days last week and since we don’t have any air conditioning at home and we both work out of the house, I found myself with a serious craving for some tasty, creamy homemade popsicles. And the beach.
I had been craving some of my homemade chai recently, but the idea of hot chai tea was very quickly dismissed, while I found myself sweating in the summer heat. Naturally, the next logical thought was a popsicle version of the tasty hot coconut chai lattes, that I make during the winter months. With the abundance of figs we have coming from our tree, I was dying to find a way to incorporate them into whatever popsicle I made, so the idea was born for these delicious, creamy Chai Spiced Coconut Fig Popsicles.
For lack of sounding like I am bragging, these are THE BEST homemade popsicles I have ever made. They are full of amazing chai flavor and they are so perfectly creamy and rich. The only bad part of all of this amazingness was the day I decided to photograph these, it was well over 90 degrees in our house and the popsicles were melting so fast I couldn’t keep up. I was scrambling, running, yelling and snapping. I was able to snap these two photos and before you know it I had a puddle of creamy goodness on my hands. I tried to pull the few remaining popsicles out and they had melted so quickly in the molds they were disfigured and wonky, the sticks came out of a couple, it was just a hot mess. Literally. The remaining few were more than good enough to eat, but not really pretty enough for photos. A shame really.
I thought about remaking these and photographing them again, but that would just delay me getting this amazing recipe to you, and I couldn’t bear that thought of that. These are far too delicious not to share. So, please excuse the photos, but trust me when I tell you that you need to make these ASAP.
-
Vanilla Banana Chai Smoothie – Gluten-free + Vegan
So, this is a short but sweet post. I actually didn’t plan on creating this recipe, it just kinda happened. Hence the single haphazard looking photos! But this was too good not to share. Sunday night I made some homemade raw vanilla almond milk. It had actually been a while since I have made it. I forgot how easy it is and how amazing it tastes. I also made my chai concentrate late last week. When I got home from yoga Monday morning, I was in a bit of a rush to get something into my tummy and to get upstairs to get to work so I thought up the idea of a banana chai smoothie. Once again, like the socca I made last week, I am not sure why I haven’t done this sooner. What a lovely combination of flavors, the rich vanilla flavor, the creaminess from the almond milk and the banana, the subtle nutty flavor and all those delicious spices! YUM!
It has actually been a while since I made almond milk at home. Even though it is super simple, I somehow always talk myself out of it when I am at the store looking at the bulk raw almonds, contemplating it. Somehow it seems easier and quicker to just grab a carton of my favorite organic unsweetened almond milk. Then when I do find the time to make it and take one sip, I remember that it is totally worth it. This time, I also finally made an effort to do something with the leftover almond pulp from making the almond milk. I made some delicious vanilla “sugar” cookies drizzled with chocolate, with just a few additional ingredients besides the almond pulp. Look for that recipe later in the week.
If you don’t have chai concentrate at home, see the note at the bottom of the recipe for a suggested alternative. I think it would work just great.
[print_this]Vanilla Banana Chai Smoothie – Gluten-free + Vegan
serves 1- 1/2 cup chai concentrate*
- 1/2 cup vanilla almond milk
- 1 organic banana
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 handful of ice
- Sweetener of your choice, to taste, if your chai and almond milk aren’t sweetened – a bit of maple syrup or a few drops of liquid stevia would be perfect, you could also add 1 or 2 pitted dates
- 1/8 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg
Add everything but the cinnamon and nutmeg to the blender and process until smooth and creamy. Pour into your glass and shake a little cinnamon and nutmeg over top. Serve immediately.
*Note – if you don’t have chai concentrate on hand, you could probably just brew a strong cup of chai using a tea bag. I would suggest just adding about 1/2 cup of boiling water to a mug with your favorite chai tea bag, removing the tea bag after it steeps long enough to be a strong dark cup of tea, then chill it and then add it to the smoothie. Or maybe you are inspired to just go with straight almond milk and add some classic ground chai spices themselves to the smoothie like cinnamon, cardamom, ginger, nutmeg, etc. Play around and let me know if you try any of those either variations.
[/print_this]
