Adaptable Healthy Smoothie Recipes

Many smoothie recipes originated out of Brazil in the 1930s.  They became popular and have spread around the globe.  Today there are literally hundreds of variations for smoothie recipes.  Most people who seek out smoothie recipes are doing so for healthy reasons, but with smoothies it is all about the ingredients.  Some smoothie recipes are loaded with things that are not so healthy so make sure you know what you’re getting.

A typically smoothie recipe consists of a blended beverage made from fruit that can include a wide variety of other ingredients.  One thing that makes smoothies so appealing is that it is easy to “hide” a lot of healthy stuff that may not taste so grate with the fruity flavor. With healthcare costs skyrocketing and obesity and diabetes reaching epidemic proportions, many people find a smoothie recipe that helps them with whatever health challenges they may be facing.  Many smoothie recipes have become a part of a lifestyle change for healthier living.

Make your own smoothie recipe.  Most people feel the need to follow directions closely.  With a smoothie you can through that out the window.  Experiment, live healthy, and have some fun.  Most smoothies simply consist of blended up stuff so go get your blender and start off with some basic ingredients.  If you mess up you will just end up with something that doesn’t taste so good, but you can always adjust.  Here are some ideas for getting you started with creating your own smoothie recipe.

Start off with some juice.  Many people use fruit juice with vegetables already mixed in.  It is a good idea to put in a couple of ounces of yogurt as well. You can experiment with the amounts but start off low and add more as needed if your smoothie gets to thick.  Below are some great things to add to your smoothie recipe.  Mix and match and change things out once in a while.  It is a good idea to pre-freeze anything you can to keep your smoothie cold.  You can add ice as well to quickly cool your smoothie off as well.  Try to blend it up good and if it gets to thick add in small amounts of fruit juice, soy milk or almond milk till it is soft enough to drink through a straw.

  • Any kind of fruit – get the pre-frozen from the supermarket or freeze the fruit yourself.
  • Blueberries, blackberries, raspberries, strawberries are high in antioxidants
  • Avocados are heart-healthy and make the smoothie creamy without adding other saturated fats.  Recommend pealing, slicing and freezing before using.  Then you can just pull a couple out of the freezer and throw them in the mix.  Be careful to many can make your smoothie taste funny.
  • Almond, Walnuts, and pecans are all very health so try adding a handful into the blender.
  • Some people add in small amounts of frozen vegetables like broccoli or spinach but stay away from some like onions have too strong of flavor to hide.
  • Cayenne pepper is good for you and as long as you don’t add to much your smoothie recipe will have a nice little zing.
  • Oats (plain old fashion kind), Oat bran & flaxseed are all heart healthy
  • Peanut butter (get the pure stuff)
  • Ginger
  • Cinnamon
  • mint
  • Whey powder
  • Green tea
  • Herbal supplements or nutritional supplements
  • For sweetener you can use local honey (helps with allergies), artificial sweeteners or be bad and add chocolate, sugar, or even syrup.

Go down to your local health food store and ask for things to add to your smoothie recipe.  You can look for things that build immunity, add essential vitamins, or naturally cleanse the body.

Creating variations of your own smoothie recipe and consuming them for breakfast daily is a great way to living a healthier life.  Weather your goal is to lose weight, lower your cholesterol, build your immunity, or just live healthier creating your own smoothie recipe is a great way to start.  So participate!

Healthy Snacks for Healthy Life

Healthy snacks prove to be a great tool for people who want to fight obesity as well as maintain their bodies. For people concerned about their weight, their energy level or nutritional deficiencies, eating the small portions provided by healthy snacks can help maintain optimal health. There are many diets that recommend eating 5-6 small meals per day as opposed to 3 big meals.  It is believed that eating often help increase your metabolism and helps avoid cravings by keeping you full throughout the day.

One of the main reasons for eating healthy snacks is that small portions decrease the number of calories consumed each day which reduces the chances of developing obesity. Eating smaller portions more frequently throughout the day will also help maintain constant blood sugar levels. Blood sugar levels affect the amount of energy available throughout the day. Low blood sugar makes a person feel tired, sluggish and slow.

Another reason for eating healthy snacks is that eating small portions more frequently will help keep a person’s metabolism running strong. The metabolism is a function of the body that works to digest food. Eating frequently keeps the metabolism working regularly.

Finally eating small portions several times per day will help to prevent nutritional imbalances. Research has found that people who eat several healthy snacks throughout the day tend to eat different things at each meal.  This promotes a more balanced diet of fruits, vegetables, fiber, lean meats and dairy products.

Here are some yummy ideas for healthy snacks.  Eating 5-6 healthy snacks per day requires that you eat every 2-3 hours.  In order to do this successfully, you must plan ahead.  Here are some ideas in no particular order.

  • Mixed nuts
  • Fruits such as apples, oranges, and bananas
  • Salads
  • A small or half sandwich
  • Popcorn
  • Protein shakes
  • Yogurt, parfait, Greek
  • Hard-boiled eggs or Pickled Eggs
  • Pumpkin seeds
  • Mozzarella or other cheese sticks
  • Carrot, broccoli, or any kind of vegetable sticks with or without light ranch
  • Turkey Breast slice wrapped around a pickle slice
  • Tuna fish or tuna jerky
  • Olives
  • Salsa on top of baked tortilla chips
  • Trail mix and some cereals
  • Applesauce
  • Raisins and other dried fruit

With healthy snacks the possibilities are endless, but planning is key.   It is very important to have a game plan to keep yourself on track when hunger strikes. Stocking up on the ingredients for quick and healthy snacks and having them at the ready will help resist the urge to hit the vending machine when at work, avoid the junk food when out and about, or the pint of ice cream in the freezer at home. So, whether you’re juggling family activities, work requirements or social commitments, keep on hand these quick and easy healthy snacks to help you stay lean and healthy.  Once new habits are formed healthy snacks eaten several times a day is actually an easy way of life.  So participate!

Yummy Meatloaf Recipe

Most people are very familiar with meatloaf and there are many yummy meatloaf recipes.  Meatloaf is believed to have European origins traditionally a Belgian and German dish and closely related to the Dutch meatball.  Often meatloaf recipes are interchangeable with many meatball recopies.  In America, meatloaf recipe history can be traced back to a mixture of ground port and cornmeal that was a commonly cooked by German-Americans in Pennsylvania during 1700’s called scrapple.  The meatloaf recipes that are common today did not really become prevalent until the late 1800’s.

Meatloaf is a very versatile dish.  A meatloaf recipe typically consists of ground meat formed into a loaf shape and baked or sometimes even smoked. The loaf shape is sometime formed by hand and cooked on a flat pan but often the loaf shape comes from a loaf shaped pan.  Most meatloaf recipes use ground beef but there are recipes for loafs of lamb, pork, veal, venison, and poultry and combinations as well.  Once the meat is ground it is mixed with something to help bind it like eggs and breadcrumbs.  Small pieces of bread soaked in milk wine or other liquid, wheat germ, finely ground almonds, or even oatmeal can be added as well.  The addition of these ingredients adds flavor and makes the meatloaf make it more dough-like. Often ketchup or tomato sauce is also mixed with the meatloaf as well before baking.

Meatloaf recipes can vary greatly.  To spice things up many meatloaf recipes call for various spices and herbs as well as chopped vegetables such as onions, green peppers and celery to be added.  Some meatloaf recipes add strips of bacon on top or may stuff the meatloaf with combinations of eggs, cheese, vegetables, mushrooms, or additional herbs.  Typically the meatloaf is backed but some people have had success with microwaving smaller individual sized portions.

Below is a generic but yummy meatloaf recipe.  Don’t hesitate change and embellish this meatloaf recipe to make it your own.  Check out some alternative ideas at the bottom.

Ingredients

  • 1 1/2 pounds ground beef
  • 1 egg
  • 1 onion finely chopped
  • 1 cup milk
  • 1 cup dried bread or cracker crumbs
  • 2 tablespoons yellow mustard
  • 1/3 cup ketchup
  • 2 tablespoons brown sugar
  • salt and pepper

Directions

  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
  2. In a bowl, combine the beef, egg, onion, milk and crumbs. Season the meatloaf with salt and pepper to taste.
  3. Place in a lightly greased 5×9 inch loaf pan.  Alternatively form into a loaf and place it in a lightly greased 9×13 inch baking dish.
  4. In a separate small bowl, combine the brown sugar, mustard and ketchup. Mix well and pour over the meatloaf.
  5. Bake at 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) for 1 hour.

Meatloaf recipe alternatives

Add 1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper to the meatloaf

Add 1 teaspoon dried thyme to the meatloaf

Add 1 teaspoon chili powder to the meatloaf

Mix 1/2 red bell pepper into the meatloaf

Add 1 Tbsp minced garlic to the meatloaf

Use garlic-flavored croutons instead of bread crumbs

Use ground sirloin in the meatloaf

Add 1 teaspoon dried thyme to the meatloaf

Add 1 tablespoon honey to the glaze

Add up to 1 teaspoon ground cumin to the glaze

Add a dash hot pepper sauce to the glaze

Add a Dash Worcestershire sauce

Recipe for Low Cost Medicare Supplemental Insurance

Medicare supplemental insurance becomes important to people around the age of 65.  When people start looking at the gaps that Medicare leaves for them to pay out-of-pocket, buying a Medigap plan starts to make good sense.  Once aware of how important a Medicare supplement plan can be to both health and financial future the question then becomes where to start?  There are a lot of insurance companies and an assortment of Medigap plans.  Things can easily get confusing with all the mailers and heaven help you if you fill out one of those online “free” quote forms.  Some websites gather people’s information and then sell it to multiple agents and insurance companies.

So what is a person to do if they don’t want to unnecessarily spend money on an overpriced Medicare supplemental insurance plan?  Here is a recipe for finding low cost Medicare supplemental insurance.  Start by watching this three minute video.

 

So if you want to learn about Medicare, Medicare supplemental insurance, and how to safely get quotes head over to medicare-supplement.biz  This website is owned by Centaur Medicare Solutions which was started by a retired Army veteran.  He won’t sell your information out to a bunch of insurance agents waiting to pounce on you.  It is very easy to get Medicare supplement quotes there and you can rest assure you information is not going to be emailed out all over the internet. So if you want a recipe for success with Medicare supplements start with Centaur Medicare Solutions.  You can find their website here: http://medicare-supplement.biz  They are very active with California Medicare supplements, Georgia Medicare supplements, South Carolina Medicare supplements, Tennessee Medicare supplements and Texas Medicare supplements. But they service a large number of other states as well.

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