NaturalCounselor Health and Wellness Blog For Women

To get as much benefit from the whole foods you eat its important to buy fruits and vegetables grown locally and in season.  Here a some healthy and nutritious spring and summer picnic recipes you can make for your friends and family to enjoy in the park.  You can try them on Memorial weekend or Fourth of July.

Spring and Summer Recipe with Baby Artichokes with Garlic and Oranges

Ingredients:

• 16 baby artichokes (about 2 pounds)
• 4 – 5  tbsp olive oil
• 3 -4  garlic cloves, chopped
• ½ tbsp turmeric
• 1/2 cup water
• 2 tbsp sour cream or yogurt
• 1 tbsp dill chopped
• 1 tbsp parsley chopped
• salt and black pepper to taste
• orange wedges

Directions:

Trim baby artichokes and cook in boiling water for 5 minutes. Sautee onion and cook in olive oil for 5-7 minutes, add garlic and cook for more 2 minutes or until garlic gets brown. Add artichokes, stir in salt, pepper, 1/2 cup water, 2 tbsp sour cream, ½ tbsp turmeric. Cook, covered, until artichokes are tender, about 5 minutes longer or until knife inserted in bottom of artichoke goes through easily. Serve, warm, garnish with orange wedges, dill and parsley.

Spring and Summer Asparagus with Turmeric Dressing and Almond Butter Recipe

Ingredients:

• 1 cup onions chopped
• 1 bunch asparagus spears
• 3 tbsp olive oil
• Weight Loss Detox Turmeric Dressing
• 1 tsp almond butter
• 2 tbsp parsley or dill chopped
• salt to taste

Directions:

Steam asparagus spears (or cook in boiled water) for 5-8  minutes or until tender.  Sautee onions in olive oil for 10 minutes. Make Turmeric Dressing in a bowl, add almond butter and onions and mix thoroughly. Place the asparagus spears on the plate and coat with the new mix of turmeric dressing, almond butter and sautéed onions. Garnish with parsley or dill.

Summer and Spring Mushroom and Quinoa Salad

Ingredients

• 1 tbsp ghee or organic raw butter
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 8 mushrooms
• 2 tbsp sour cream
• 4 cups spring greens (lettuce, spinach, arugula)
• 1/2 cup spring green onions chopped
• 3 cloves garlic chopped
• 6-8 radishes, sliced
• 1 cup cooked quinoa (or barley or wheat berries) chilled
• 1/2 cup grated Goat cheese
• 2 tbsp dried cranberries
• 2 tbsp prunes
• 2 tbsp pine nuts
• 1tbsp parsley chopped
• 2 tbsp Apple cider vinegar
• salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

Sautee mushrooms in olive oil for about 5 minutes, add garlic and cook for more 2 minutes; add sour cream, season with salt and pepper, stir thoroughly and set aside. Place all the remaining ingredients into a large salad bowl and sprinkle with Apple cider vinegar. Just before serving, pour the warm mushrooms in sour cream over the salad.

Bon Appetit!

Don’t forget to breathe, smile and be happy.

© Irina Wardas, HHC

Women’s Holistic Health, Nutrition Counselor and Coach

NaturalCounselor.com

Radishes are one of my favorite vegetables. Here are some great reasons to eat at least one radish a day.

Radishes can stimulate the liver and improve elimination.

Radishes are a fantastic weight loss detox and beauty remedies food.

Radishes can be used to clear your sinuses, for hoarseness, excessive phlegm and sore throats.

Radishes can help keep your thyroid hormones in balance.

Radishes can cleanse your kidneys and decrease water retention.

Radishes are also a beauty remedies food. They can rejuvenate your skin because of their high sulfur, silicon and vitamin C content. The sulfurous mustard oil in radishes stimulates the circulation system which can help make your skin look radiant.

You might need to eat more radishes if you suffer from:

• poor skin quality, brittle nails and hair, dental cavities, atherosclerosis, lung disorders, which can be caused by silicon deficiency.

• acne, arthritis, brittle hair and nails, immune dysfunction, memory loss, rashes, slow wound healing, which can be caused by sulfur deficiency.

Remember that sulfurous foods should be combined with fatty foods (avocado, nuts, some seeds, etc.) for proper digestion. If you suffer from excessive gas, eat sulfur-rich foods with salty vegetables, for example, seaweed.

Breathe, smile and be happy.

Irina Wardas, HHC

Women’s Holistic Health Counselor and Coach

To look fabulous in Summer, we need to eat more lycopene rich foods, such as cooked tomatoes, apricots, pink grapefruit, papaya, water melon in order to protect our skin from sun damage.

New studies show that lycopene in our diet can help our skin block UV rays and that there is a connection between lycopene and skin cancer.  Because our body doesn’t produce this antioxidant,  we should incorporate more lycopene rich foods in our diet, to protect ourselves from skin cancer.

Try these three healthy simple and easy summer recipes to keep your skin sun damage free.

1. Grapefruit and Walnuts Salad Easy Summer Recipe

Ingredients:

• 2 medium grapefruits
• 1 avocado
• 1/2 cup chopped walnuts
• juice of ½ lemon
• 1/2 cup Immunity Boosting Turmeric Dressing

Directions:

Peel grapefruits and section. Peel avocado and remove pit, cut into chunks. Place avocado and grapefruit into the bowl and gently toss. Drizzle lemon’s juice. Add nuts and drizzle with Turmeric dressing.

2. Spaghetti Sauce Easy Summer Recipe

Ingredients:

• 2 medium onions chopped
• 2 Portobello (or 1 cup shitake) mushrooms sliced
• 4 tomatoes chopped or 2 tbsp tomato paste (for paste you need 1/3 cup water)
• 2 clove garlic minced
• 2-3 tbsp olive oil
• 2 tbsp parsley, chopped
• salt and fresh grounded pepper to taste
• 8 ounces spaghetti or angel hair pasta

Directions:

Sautee onions in olive oil for 10 min., add mushrooms and cook for 5-7 minutes. Add tomatoes (if you use tomato paste, add some water), parsley, salt and pepper.

Drain pasta. Toss with tomato sauce and serve.

3. Papaya Fruit Salad Easy Summer Recipe

This recipe is from one of my favorite books Eating for Beauty by David Wolfe:

Eating this fruit salad is a great way to begin the morning. The cinnamon contains the mineral chromium, a great blood sugar balancer, this fruit salad is loaded with enzymes to help stimulate elimination in the morning.

Ingredients:

• 1papaya
• ½ avocado
• 6 fresh figs
• 2 nectarines
• ½ tbsp Cinnamon
• 1 lemon juice
• 1 tbsp raw honey

Directions:

Chop all ingredients, mix and serve.

Bon Appetit!

Breathe, smile and be happy.

© Irina Wardas, HHC

Women’s Holistic Coach and Counselor

Our mind and body can be affected in different ways, for example, according to what season it is.

In the fall you can rejuvenate your body to maintain or restore your balance with a natural weight loss detox that uses healthy whole foods that can help you detox your body and lose weight.

In the fall, to naturally cleanse or detox your body, include the basics: beans, grains, legumes, vegetables, fruits, nuts and seeds.

Why?

I would like to share with you passages from a favorite book of mine: The Self-Healing Book by Kristina Turner.

We have teeth built to grind mostly high-fiber food such as grains, seeds, leafy greens and roots. 20 out 0f 32 teeth are grinding molars.

Our ORGANS function very smoothly on a grain, bean, and vegetable diet. Complex carbohydrates regulate blood-sugar and provide steady energy.

On a diet rich in fat, protein, sugar, and salt, organs such as kidneys, liver, gall bladder, and heart often become weak and clogged, depleting our vitality and leading to illness.

Healthy BACTERIA thrive in our intestines on a grain-based diet. When they die off, they are replaced by unhealthy microorganisms when if eat too much fat, sugar, meat or chemicals. Fermented foods help to renew the healthy bacteria population.

BLOOD flows freely on a low-fat, low-sweet diet. High fat meals, by contrast, make blood thick and sludgy. Sugar weakens and thins the blood.

Let us be whole food smart, shall we?

Breathe, smile and be happy.

© Irina Wardas, HHC

Women’s Holistic Health, Nutrition Coach and Relationship Expert