Category Archives Food

Vegan Recipe: Chocolate Chia Seed Pudding

Hello friends. With this week full of tragedy, I thought I would share a “comfort food” recipe with you.

I LOVE chocolate pudding. I love, love, love it.

Most chocolate puddings use dairy milk.  If you are vegan, try this recipe for a yummy chocolate chia pudding.

Chia seed is actually VERY healthy for you.  It is very high in fiber and has a very large amount of Omega-3

First off, I went to Wegmans and bought myself a package of Bob’s Red Mill Chia Seed. If you’re local, I found them in the Nature’s Marketplace section at our local store for $6.99.

I also found a recipe on another food blog called Food Doodles. The simple and healthy recipe I am going to share below is originally from  Love Veggies and Yoga. I tweaked it a bit for my own taste buds.  Here is what I did:

2 T. chia seeds

1/2 cup Almond Breeze UNSWEETENED Chocolate Almond Milk

2 packets of Stevia in the Raw Zero Calorie All Natural Sweetener (I get a weird aftertaste from liquid Stevia and avoid it. I do not have this issue with Stevia in the Raw.)

1 T. Dutch process cocoa

1/2 t. pure vanilla extract

You combine all these together and let sit out for about 20 minutes. Then you whisk it up or even put it in the blended (my pick), leave it out and repeat the 20 minute wait. Put in the fridge for a few hours and it will thicken up. You can also freeze for a yummy treat on a hot day.

Here is my pudding before it has had time to set. It will thicken up–don’t worry!

Calories: Cocoa powder (12), Stevia (0), Vanilla Extract (6), chia seed (140), almond milk (22.5)

TOTAL CALORIES: 180.5 for the entire dessert, which is divided into 2 portions of 90 calories each.

Loving Lavender

We’ve spoken of our love for lavender before here on the (seed) blog–and with good reason.  There are so many benefits of lavender, such as promoting a sense of relaxtion and calm.

At (seed), we really respect the benefits that lavender possesses.  That is why we incorporate it into so many of our natural body care products.  We use lavender oil in the (seed) Body Oil Relaxing Blend because of its stress-relieving properties. In our Relaxing Blend Body Lotion, lavender is combined with sage.  Sage is shown to help clear the mind and lavender is known for its soothing of the senses.  We also use lavender in our Relaxing Lavender Hand Cream, which I love because midway through the day I can get that burst of aromatherapy while I am softening my hands. It’s a great pick me up! You’ll also find lavender oil in our Relaxing Lavender Body Cream.

Our body cream is thick and rich without being greasy and it absorbs into your skin without feeling heavy.  Your skin will feel pampered, soothed & nourished day after day.  With grape seed oil and shea butter, our Relaxing Lavender Body Cream is just what your elbows, knees, and other areas in need of extra moisture.

We want you to experience the aromatherapy benefits of lavender and the benefits of seedology® in our body cream, so we have a fabulous lavender collection to tell you about”  our Loving Lavender Variety Pack.

This collection includes three full sized items for just $26.  Here is what is included:

• One (1) Body Cream Lavender 8 oz.
• One (1) Body Lotion Lavender Sage 8 oz.
• One (1) Healthy Hand Cream – Lavender 3.5  oz

Lavender is truly special! I’d like to share some of my other lavender favorites with you today.

I love a good book, and this book by Jeannie Ralston is wonderful.  It is called  The Unlikely Lavender Queen:

This chocolate bar is interesting, yet delicious! It is the  Dagoba Organic Chocolate Lavender Blueberry Bar. I buy mine at Wegmans.

Lavender Mint Sparkling Water from Ayala’s is also a refreshing zero calorie drink!

Do you have lavender favorites?  Share them with us!

Ideas for a Gluten Free Easter

We know that so many of you require foods and products that are gluten-free. That can sure be hard to accomplish! We have you covered when it comes to body care products here at (seed), but I was just thinking about how hard this could be when preparing an Easter dinner.

I looked around my favorite sites on the Internet looking for some Easter recipes to share.  Here is a selection of my favorites:

Scalloped Pineapple (recipe from Rachel Young, the Glady Gluten Free blogger for Chicago Now)

4 cups gluten free bread, broken into chunks (Breadsmith’s gluten free white bread is perfect for this dish)
1/2 cup Earth Balance vegan shortening, melted
1 20 oz. can of crushed pineapple
1 cup sugar
3 eggs, beaten
1 cup vanilla flavored almond milk (Soy or Rice milk can be used as well)

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Combine bread, sugar, earth balance, and
eggs. Add pineapple and almond milk and pour into greased baking dish.
Bake for 45-50 minutes or until top appears golden.

Vegan Deliciousness: Mango Avocado Salad

I love salsa. One of my most favorite ones to make is with mango and avocado. The best part? This does double duty as a SALAD (instead of mayo-laden alternatives). Since (seed) products are vegan, I know many of our readers are too. If you are not a vegan, try this on fish tacos!

I’d like to share a yummy recipe from my American Heart Association cookbook. This one is really fantastic. You can use this as a salsa or eat it as a side dish. With the creamy texture of the avocado, it makes a nice stand it for a healthy alternative to mayo-laden potato salad.

Vegan Chili Recipe

Today, I’d like to share a vegan chili recipe with you. I like to make a big batch because we can use it for chili, then have the leftovers for chili “dogs” over veggie dogs, and as a fun snack of tortilla chips. It has been so cold in New York lately (18 yesterday) and I love to have a nice warm bowl in the winter!

How does one make a nice “meaty” chili without meat? Easy.  If you haven’t tried it before, try Textured Vegetable Protein. It’s also known as TVP and I only recently became introduced to it. I like Bob’s Red Mill, as it is non-GMO. You need to rehydrate it, which simply involves pouring boiling water over it and letting it sit for a few minutes. Easy peasy.

I also prefer my chili to have a warmth and cinnamon tinge a la Cincinnati chili. I’ve been tinkering around for the past few weeks to get a recipe that gets my family’s seal of approval. My husband loves a beefy chili and my 9 year old also loves chili (my 7 year old, not so much!).

Here is my recipe:

2 cans black beans, drained
1 can chickpeas, drained
1 can red kidney beans, drained
2 14.5 ounce cans diced tomatoes
1 28oz. can crushed tomatoes
1/2 diced onion
1/2 cup water or vegetable broth
1 can (4 oz.) mild diced green chiles
1/8 t. ground cloves
2 T. chili powder
1 t. cumin
1 clove garlic, chopped fine
1 t. cocoa powder
3 T. ground cinnamon (this seems like a large amount, but gives a really comforting flavor!)
1/2 cup to 1 cup TVP (which needs to be soaked in the same amount of boiling water that you used for the TVP)

Combine all in a crock pot on low for 6 hours.

Now, I don’t know about you, but I just cannot eat my chili without cheddar on top. That’s pretty hard when you’re not eating dairy. So, folks, I cannot say enough about the Daiya cheddar style shreds. I put this on my chili. Yum!

5 Interesting Facts About Fruits & Veggies

I learn lots of neat information reading various healthy living magazines and scouring the fabulous boards over on Pinterest.  I thought I would share some really great tidbits all about fruits and vegetables today.

#1 — Did you know that you can grow your own celery from the celery you have in your fridge right now?  Just cut off the base that you will toss out anyway and plant it in your garden.  Voila! More celery!

#2 — Consuming one cup of  strawberries may relieve stress! This serving of strawberries contains 160% of the daily value of Vitamin C, which is believed to help get rid of stree-inducing cortisol.

#3 – Did you know that bananas may help with your heartburn?  That’s right! I just read that bananas may have an antacid effect.

#4 – The darker the green veggie is, the more Vitamin C it has.  So your light green lettuce doesn’t have as much Vitamin C as, say, spinach would.

#5 – Did you know that it takes about 2½ pounds of grapes to produce a bottle of wine?

A Healthy Afternoon Treat

It never fails — I walk over to school at 3 to pick up my boys and they moan, “I’m STARVING” as we walk our few hundred feet. They are growing little guys and are always burning off what they eat because they’re so busy running around.

My boys, Nick and Ben, love granola bars, but have you checked out the ingredients list lately for the popular ones found in the grocery store?

ENJOY!

~Karley

All About Sunflower Seeds

We feature sunflower seeds as an ingredient in our product line, so I thought it’d be fun to have a blog post devoted to sunflower seeds!

Skin Care Benefits

Sunflower seeds contain large amounts of Vitamin E, which is a potent antioxidant.  We talked about antioxidants before — these play the role of skin care superheroes, working to fight against free radical damage. They are also rich is something called Sesamol, which is another antioxidant with the ability to help minimize sun damage. Oleic acid (an essential fatty acid) and Phytosterols are present too. These help plump the skin, which gives it a glowing, healthy look.

3 Health Benefits

*Helps reduces stress — Did you know that sunflower seeds actually contain tryptophan? We know this is in our Thanksgiving turkey, but it’s also present in sunflower seeds.  Tryptophan is an amino acid and it can help to produce serotonin, which we know can help to relieve tension and calm the nerves.

*Helps the cardiovascular system — Just 1/4 cup of sunflower seeds can give you 90% of your daily requirement of Vitamin E.  This vitamin neutralizes free radicals and can help prevent them from oxidizing cholesterol. If cholesterol is not oxidized, it cannot stick to arteries and build up.

*Helps the bones — Magensium works to help strengthen your bones, much like calcium.  Copper is present, too, which helps with the synthesis of collagen and elastin.  Not only is this good for your skin, but it helps with the joints.  And the Vitamin E found in sunflower seeds actually can help to provide an anti-inflammatory benefit to help with arthritis.

These are just three of the many health benefits of sunflower seeds.

Cooking with Sunflower Seeds

Photo courtesy of My Recipes

Do you like fish? Sunflower Seed-Crusted Orange Roughy is a recipe I found online and have tried. Actually, I only had tilapia on hand, so I made it with that, but it was delicious!

Photo courtesy of Sarah's Bella Cucina blog

I also have a tried and true Brussels Sprouts recipe from the blog called Sarah’s Bella Cucina. It is super yummy as is, but I add in some dried cranberries as well in order to get my picky boys to eat it. The sunflower seeds in this make a really great addition to the veggies.

Planting Sunflower Seeds

I am NOT a gardener. Yes, I can handle pansies, mums, my butterfly bushes, geraniums, etc…but anything else gives me a hard time.  More on gardening later as we get closer to spring, though! Have you ever planted sunflower seeds?  I have.  I cannot seem to get sunflowers to grow.  Maybe this year.

I found this article by Alice Formiga on the Renee’s Garden blog to be very helpful when it comes to planting sunflowers.  I’m going to follow her tips next time around.

Do you have any tips of planting sunflowers that you can give me?  Or any neat recipes using sunflower seeds?  Please do let me know!

~Karley

The Benefits of Coconut Oil

Today, I’d like to talk about an ingredient we use in many of our products here at (seed): Coconut Oil.

I’ve been a huge fan of coconut oil ever since it nearly erased a chronic skin condition I have on my upper arms called Keratosis Pilaris.  You may know someone who has this condition, or you may suffer from it yourself.  It looks across between red a rash and red goosebumps. I once read a few years back to apply it topically to the affected areas and, sure enough, it really helped me.  Ever since that point, I have sought out products with this ingredient.

Skin Care Benefits of Coconut Oil:

There are many skin benefits of coconut oil.

Coconut oil is rich in something called Lauric Acid. In fact between 40-50% of coconut oil is actually Lauric Acid. This is a very promising natural treatment for acne. Not just for acne, coconut oil works on dry skin and on skin with eczema and flakiness.
Did you know, though, that there are many other uses for coconut oil?

I’d like to say that I used to be skeptical about some of the other uses.  First of all, I used to cringe when I heard people talking about using Coconut Oil for cooking.  It goes against so many things you’ve heard about from traditional practitioners because it being a saturated fat.  I used to think I’d get clogged arteries or that it’s make me gain more weight or make my blood pressure go up.

From my own experience, when I use coconut oil in cooking, it is easier to lose weight.  Dr. Oz recently has been talking about the benefits of coconut oil and one of the ones he mentioned is weight loss.  He mentioned also how it can treat everything from skin conditions (which we have known), ulcers, and more. In fact, just a couple years ago, Dr. Oz was also skeptical of this oil and then decided to do more research. He now speaks of it regularly on his show.

Health Benefits:

*It is said that Coconut Oil can help prevent fatty deposits in the liver.

*Coconut Oil is used by many people now to help control diabetes.

*Coconut Oil is used by naturopaths to treat pancreatitis symptoms.

*Many believe Coconut Oil helps your bones absorb magnesium & calcium more effectively.

*Anecdotal evidence shows Coconut Oil can help prevent tooth decay.

I’ve recently been incorporating more & more Coconut Oil into our meals here at home.  Some of my tried & tested favorite recipes using Coconut Oil:

Vegan, Gluten Free Coconut Snowballs

Vegan, Gluten Free Almond Lace Cookies

Coconut Shrimp

Super Yummy Baked Apples

Do you have a favorite use for Coconut Oil? Please share it with us!

~Karley

We’re now at Hy-Vee!

We are pleased to announce our launch in the Midwest at Hy-Vee stores.

To celebrate, (seed) is giving away a $50 gift card so you can shop for our body care while you’re at Hy-Vee.  What would you most like to try?

Stop over to our Facebook page and let us know! Or comment here.  Tell us which (seed) Body Care products you would most like to try and you’ll be entered to win the $50 gift card.

With the $50, you’ll be able to try and buy and maybe even share the gift of (seed) with a friend!