berries – StyleNectar

Food, Health, Nutrition & Wellness, Nutrition & Beauty

Eat the Rainbow Smoothie!

Nobody loves a creamy, delicious smoothie better than I do. So when Williams-Sonoma invited me to help kick off their upcoming "Smoothie Week" with a couple of my favorite "Not Your Everyday Smoothies", I was super excited!

Last week I shared the delectable Chocolate Covered Matcha Smoothie. This week, I thought I'd jazz things up with a wonderfully colorful concoction we can all wiz up in our with whatever favorite fruits & greens we happen to have on hand.

Fresh smoothies are simple to make and incredible for our body, mind and spirit. I make them daily because they're absolutely delicious, alive and radiant… and they make me feel the same way! We all know how important it is to eat the rainbow daily and this delicious Eat the Rainbow Smoothie is a lip-smackingly yummy way to do just that.

So grab your favorite juicy berries, sweet bananas and bright colorful mangos & pineapples galore! (Feel free to choose frozen fruits. They're frozen at the peak of ripeness and, ironically, are often more nutritionally rich than fresh produce which is picked prior to fully ripening, followed by weeks of transport, store display, and time in our homes before ever being eaten) Add a handful of powerful, chlorophyll and mineral rich greens to tuck inside all that flavorful goodness… and you're ready to get blending. Simply layer it up in whatever manner you'd like. Optionally, top it with your favorite berries or superfood treats such as dried mulberries an goji's as I've done here… or keep it simple and leave it as is. Voila, you've got a perfectly luscious fireside treat for bundling up with in your favorite chair, all yours to devour 🙂

Recipe for Eat the Rainbow Smoothie (Serves 2)

Ingredients

4-6 frozen super ripe bananas
1 cup frozen or fresh berries (pick your fav!)
1 cup frozen or fresh mango or pineapple (or whatever you have on hand)
2 handfuls of greens such as spinach, romain, chard, parsley
1/2 a fresh lemon (optional)
dates, raw honey, stevia or your fav sweetener to taste
optional: additional fresh berries &/or superfood toppings such as mulberries and goji berries

Method

Blend the bananas and sweetener to taste in your Vitamix or other high speed blender til smooth and creamy.
Dump 1/3 the mixture into the bottom of your 2 favorite smoothie containers. Dump the other 2/3 into a bowl & set aside.
Add greens & optional lemon to the Vitamix along with 1/3 of the leftover blended bananas. Blend til creamy, taste to adjust sweetness as desired, and divide amongst your 2 smoothie containers.
Add berries to blender and 1/2 the remaining blended bananas. Blend and dump atop the first two layers in your containers.
Add your mango or pineapple and last portion of blended banana to the Vitamix. Blend and add to your smoothies.
Top with your favorite fresh berries &/or superfoods such as mulberries & goji. Or just leave it plain which is super yummy too!

Enjoy 🙂

You may also enjoy these fabulous smoothies:

Cleansing Quadruple Berry Acai Smoothie
Daily Detox Green Smoothie
Chocolate Covered Strawberry Shake
Chocolate Chip Mint Shak e
Epic Baby Thai Coconut Smoothie
Blueberry Coconut Shake
Delicious Green Smoothie
The Happy Shake

Do you have a favorite “Not Your Average Smoothie” ?

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All Love,

Juliane

Thank you for visiting 🙂

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Food

Valentine’s Day Treats

In honor of Valentine's Day I've revived a few StyleNectar favorites to delight in with our loved ones! Four delicious treats to show your Valentine (and feel free to be your own Valentine!) how very special they (and you!) are. Just click on the names to link up to each recipe and enjoy. All so simple to prepare, the hardest part will be choosing between…

The Silky-smooth, Sweet-tart richness (think cheesecake baby) of Lemon Bavarois with Rasberry Syrup

A gorgeous, layered Sexy Chocolate Covered Strawberry Shake, which combines the sexy super food maca, known for its aphrodisiacal qualities, with decadent chocolate and luscious strawberries.

Fresh, organic berries topped by a luscious, honey-sweetened mousse via the Triple Berry Parfait with Cashew Cream!

Last but not least: the pure, blissful, chocolate decadence of The Happy Shake is sure to please…

Of course the best part is not only are these treats fabulously delicious and phenomenal for you, they'll leave you feeling emotionally uplifted, energized, healthy and beautiful! All the pleasure. None of the guilt. Now that's my kind of Valentine's Day indulgence 🙂

Which treat will you make?

Happy Valentine's Day !

XX

Juliane

Thank you for visiting!

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Food, Health, Nutrition & Wellness

The Essential Ginger Berry Beet

Essential Ginger Berry Beet Juice

This one's for you, Hovermale!

The Essential Ginger Berry Beet is out of this world delish. It heads into the office with my gorgeous husband at least once a week. A juice with this dark, ruby hue is clearly loaded with antioxidants. Check out the powerhouse of bennies in this mouth watering concoction…

Beta-carotene filled, Kidney cleansing Carrots

Blood purifying Beets

Antioxidant laden Blackberries and Raspberries

Mineral and vitamin rich Green Apple

Cellulite zapping, collagen building, liver cleansing, Vitamin C filled Citrus

Metabolism accelerating Jalapeno (yes that's right)

Detoxifying Ginger Root

& Lauric Acid boasting Coconut Water

Remember the words of Mahatma Gandhi, "Chew your juice and drink your food." Digestion starts in the mouth with the enzymes in our saliva. Don't waste this liquid gold by gulping it down in two seconds flat, 'cause believe me, it's so tasty you'll be tempted 🙂

**As for proper food combining, there is more leeway mixing fruits and veg when making a fiber-free juice. That said, there are also those who advise against juicing fruits at all, due to the resulting insulin spike from the sugar in the fruit. (Note: the berries in this juice are in the acid category & extremely low in sugar.) In my experience, I've found the cleaner my body has become (after doing lots of detoxification & commiting to a detoxifying lifestyle) the more freedom I now have with fruit as pertains to food combining, my response to eating more of it, etc. If we want to be purists, we can leave out the berries and orange and take or leave the green apple as it's considered a neutral in the juicing arena (and it's still delicious this way!). Frequently, however, when we first begin juicing, we need recipes which are sweeter tasting to satisfy our taste buds. Eventually we benefit ourselves to enjoy and appreciate the juices which are lower in sugar so we don't cause sugar related health problems as a result of juicing. For all these reasons, I've included mutliple ways to make this juice in the recipe below. However you choose to make it, enjoy the fusion of micronutrients, enzymes and cleansing, beautifying, healthifying deliciousness!

All in the Family, Right to Left: Amazing Greens, Essential Ginger Berry Beet, Epic Thai Baby Coconut Smoothie & Macaccino!

My hubby comes home to a spread of fresh, cold-pressed juices & smoothies daily. Because I use a slow, masticating juicer, they retain their nutrients for 72 hours leaving them perfect the next day. Right to Left: Amazing Greens (Recipe coming soon!), Essential Ginger Berry Beet, Epic Thai Baby Coconut Smoothie & Macaccino!

Recipe for Essential Ginger Berry Beet Juice (2, 32 oz Servings)

Ingredients (all organic):

1 Lemon, peeled
1 Lime, unpeeled
1 small Orange, peeled (leave out if following a purist approach to proper food combining)
1 Green Apple
Ginger, 1" knob or to taste
Jalapeno, (SO good) small slice to taste & depending on strength of your pepper
8 carrots
1/2 medium beet (If you haven't yet tried beets or haven't yet developed an affinity for them, use just a very small amount -perhaps 1/8 of a small beet- which will blend into the taste of the other ingredients so you don't taste it. From there, you may opt to gradually include a bit more as your palate adjusts to the earthier flavor)
4 to 8 oz. blackberries (leave out if following a purist approach to proper food combining)
4 to 8 oz. raspberries or strawberries (leave out if following a purist approach to proper food combining)
liquid stevia to taste
coconut water or purified water to thin out to desired consistency

Method:

Wash and cut ingredients into sizes small enough to feed into your juicer.
Juice ingredients.
Add coconut water to thin consistency to taste.
Add liquid stevia to sweeten to taste.
Enjoy!

This is my submission to the Root Vegetable No Waste Food Challenge at Turquoise Lemons.

Do you juice? Have you ever tried a juice feast?

Much Love

XO's

Juliane

Visiting wine-making friends in Napa Valley. In front of 400 year old tree in front yard.

Coming soon! Completing our adventures in Napa Valley: Dining at Bouchon, Meadowood & Auberge du Soleil plus 3 divine vineyards…

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Food

Triple Berry Parfait with Cashew Cream

Fresh Berries with Cashew Cream

Triple Berry Parfait with Cashew Cream was a perfect start to this sunny, spring day. Fresh, organic berries topped by a luscious, honey-sweetened mousse…

The only thing better than looking forward to having this for breakfast the next couple of days is knowing how healthy it is! A lovely little meal packed with antioxidants, protein, fiber and iron.

Serve cashew cream with any mixture of fruit or simply substitute it anywhere you'd use a sweet topping like whipped cream or mascarpone. It's to die for!

This is my submission to Sarah at Dead Easy Desserts for the August 2014 Raspberry Theme!

Cashew Cream (makes 2 cups)

Ingredients:

2 cups raw cashew nuts (soaked overnight to remove enzyme inhibitors & release live nutrients by initiating the sprouting process)
2 cups cold water (plus extra as needed)
1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
2 tablespoons raw coconut nectar or raw honey (3 if you like it sweet!)

Method:

Place cashews, 2 cups cold water, raw honey and vanilla extract into a heavy-duty blender such as a Vitamix. (If your blender isn't "heavy-duty" just soak the cashews in the water overnight to soften. After step 2 strain the final, blended mixture through a sieve if necessary- or just keep it rustic.)
Blend on high speed for about 1 minute. Add a little more water and blend again until smooth. Taste the cream and add a bit more honey if necessary.
The cream thickens and settles as it refrigerates. If you're preparing for immediate use, only add enough water to bring it to immediate desired thickness. To prep in advance, leave the cream a little runnier by adding another few tablespoons of water, blending til incorporated.
Cashew cream may be stored in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 4 days.

Triple Berry Parfait

Raspberries
Blackberries
Strawberries sliced
Mint sprigs

To assemble Triple Berry Parfait, simply arrange blackberries, raspberries and strawberries into a dish and drizzle a generous dollop of cream over top. Garnish with a sprig of mint and enjoy!

Tip: A festive breakfast, brunch or dessert treat to serve on Forth of July with its red, white and blue color scheme! Just substitute blueberries for the blackberries.

Food

Sweet Polenta Cupcakes with Mascarpone Frosting and Fresh Berries

Sweet Polenta Cupcakes with Mascarpone Frosting and Fresh Berries

What better way to celebrate the onset of Spring than with these beautiful italian-inspired cupcakes! Fresh berries atop a sweetened, cornmeal cake and a pillow of mascarpone cream.

Simple. Beautiful. Delicious.

And a perfect time to share two of my favorite cupcake accessories…

Silver cupcake liners, which I always have in stock for when the cupcake mood strikes. And, since cupcakes are a great treat to share with other people, a practical and easy way to transport them – the Cupcake Courier. I highly recommend this little baby. It has room for the tallest of cupcakes, or mounds of berries as the case may be, and they're all safely nestled and snapped into an easy to use container that I believe will survive even the bumpiest of car rides.

Sweet Polenta Cupcakes with Mascarpone Frosting and Fresh Berries nestled inside the Cupcake Courier (the top is currently off).

Ingredients

2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 cup polenta, finely ground (if you'd prefer a more "textured" cupcake, substitute medium ground polenta)
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
2 sticks butter, room temperature
2 cups sugar
6 eggs, yolks and whites separated
1/2 cup whole milk
2 teaspoons vanilla extract (the best you can get, it makes a HUGE difference in your baking results)
zest of 2 lemons
16 ounces mascarpone cheese
1/2 cup powdered sugar, plus a pinch for the egg whites
4 cups mixed berries (I used blueberries, blackberries & raspberries)

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Line 2 cupcake pans with 24 muffin liners. Sift together the flour and baking powder then whisk in the polenta and salt.

In a mixer with the paddle attachment, cream the butter and the sugar together until light and fluffy. While the mixer is running add the egg yolks, one at a time. Beat in the milk, vanilla, and lemon zest. With the mixer on low speed add the dry ingredients to this mixture until just incorporated.

In a separate, clean, dry bowl whip the egg whites until soft peaks form. Add a teaspoon of powdered sugar while the whites are mixing. Add half of the whites to the first mixture and beat with the paddle. Gently fold in the remaining egg whites with a large spatula to lighten the batter by incorporating air.

Spoon the batter into the lined muffin tins, filling each til about 2/3 full.

Bake 20 to 25 minutes, or until the tops are golden and a wooden skewer comes out clean when inserted into the center. Cool each pan on a wire rack for a few minutes before removing the cupcakes. Again, cool the cupcakes completely to room temperature while before frosting.

Combine the mascarpone cheese with the confectioners' sugar slowly. Once you're past the stage of loose powdered sugar, beat together with a whisk until combined. Ice the cupcakes with the mascarpone frosting and top each with a mound of berries. Enjoy!

Recipe inspired/adapted from Michael Chiarello

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