My Adventure with Smoothies

Late in my mom's illness, there came a time when she wasn't very hungry so I started making smoothies for her. At the time there wasn't as much information out there on making them so I was making them by-guess-and-by-golly.

Most of the recipes I found online at the time wanted you to use a juicer and mom didn't have one, all we had was a blender. The strangest recipe I read was for Carnation Instant Breakfast (strawberry) and beer (ew!). I was having to make do with what we had so most of the smoothies I was making had to use vanilla flavoured Ensure or the occasional Carnation Instant Breakfast as a base. This tended to make the smoothies too sweet for mom and she got bored with them. I was running out of ideas on what to put in them so they wouldn't be as sweet. Mind you, I had come up with a smoothie that mom did like that she claimed tasted like a creamsicle. The strange thing was that there was no orange in it! I had made it with mangos and vanilla Ensure but I was unable to reproduce it because I wasn't writing down what was in it.

I had remembered that one of mom's nurses had mentioned making what she called "steak shakes" by basically blending what was for dinner with broth but here it was again, mom's taste buds were off, and she didn't like the smell or taste of meat also she didn't want to eat "baby food". That made this idea a no go.

Nowadays, there are more options out there and I would be making smoothies differently. First off, I would not be stuck with having to use just Ensure or Instant Breakfast as a liquid base. I'd go and get some unflavoured protein powder, hemp hearts or chia seeds for the protein part of the smoothie (I was already adding yoghurt and silken tofu to them). I'd also be adding greens to the smoothie. Admittedly this would involve some extra prep (who wants celery strings in their drink?) but at least the smoothie wouldn't be too sweet. I'd also try freezing broth (like the mineral broth recipe) into ice cubes so that the smoothie could be more savory. (I have no idea how this would taste but I just might try it as an experiment on myself). 

Some of the other things I'd be doing differently is writing down what I was putting in the smoothies, freezing any leftover smoothies in freezer bags and labeling them as to what was in them. The reason for this is that I think that the smoothies would be easier to get out of the bags rather than from tupperware which was a problem I discovered for myself. Also with the bags being labeled you would know how to make it again if the concoction you come up with proves to be a favorite. 

This infographic is a good beginning on how to make smoothies. Have fun and experiment.

Enjoy!

From: simplysmoothierecipes.com

Article Recommendation

The article is for anyone, but if you are a cancer survivor and live in the Calgary area it may really interest you.

The article is from the CBC Calgary site regarding how light therapy may energize cancer survivors and also about looking for cancer survivors who may be interested in participating in the study at the University of Calgary and Alberta Health Services. Check out the link above.

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Source: google.com via Michelle on Pinterest

Ginger: More than a Culinary Herb

Image from Wikipedia

Ginger (Zingiber offiniale) has been around for thousands of years as a culinary and medicinal herb. It's warming, spicy flavour is wonderful in stir frys and curries and I like it as ginger beer (plain or in a shandy which is lovely in the summer) and also has been used to disguise the flavor of other medications, but are you aware of it's other uses?

Uses 
The most common forms of ginger are as a fresh root (rhizome) dried and powdered (used in baking and as a flavouring in tea or coffee), pickled (sometimes known as gari , served alongside sushi as a palate cleanser), as a tea, wine and candied (I've used this as just a candy and for nausea- it's easier to carry in my purse). Ginger is also used as a flavouring in sodas as well as in perfumes and soaps.
As a tisane or tea it is used for nausea, colds, bronchitis, menstrual cramps, coughs, back pain and for digestive problems such as diarrhea, but it can also be applied as a poultice to the skin as a rubefacient to increase blood flow to the area particularly for osteoarthritis and muscle pain. In supplemental form, ginger is possibly effective for menstrual cramps, post-operative nausea, dizziness, morning sickness, and osteoarthritis. The essential oil is used as a compress in dilutions of 1%-1.5% for muscle aches, fatigue and arthritis as at higher concentrations it may irritate the skin too much. I use it aromatherapy blends for arthritis as I find it safer to use for people with high blood pressure in stead of rosemary.
Ginger is also being looked at as a cancer preventative and treatment in ovarian, colon and skin cancers.

Side effects, interactions and cautions
Ginger is considered as generally safe when taken in small doses (under 2 gm per kg of body mass) but some minor side effects that have been noted with ginger are bloating, gas, heartburn and nausea mostly with powdered ginger and too much tea (I did that once with too much tea, not fun). Caution is advised if you are taking blood thinners like Warfarin or Aspirin as it may increase your risk of bruising and bleeding. If you have a heart condition and are taking calcium channel blockers use caution as it may lower your blood pressure too much and cause an irregular heart beat (I learn something every day. I take a calcium channel blocker for tachycardia and didn't know this. I've never had a problem but then I don't have ginger tea often). Also, if you are diabetic, ginger might lower your blood sugar so be careful if you are taking medications to control your blood sugar as it may go too low, so monitor your levels and adjust your medications if necessary (under medical supervision). Ginger can also cause problems for people with gall stones as it can increase bile flow. Never take the essential oil internally.

How to use Ginger
The standard dose for ginger supplements is 250 mg four times a day by mouth. 
An easy way to peel ginger is to use the side of a spoon.
Tea is the most pleasant way to take ginger and some like it with lemons or milk and it can be drank either hot or cold. I'm too lazy to make my own tea so I like to get the instant honeyed ginger drink from the supermarket.

Here's a recipe for homemade ginger tea from Smoking Hot Mom 

1-2 Tablespoons freshly grated Ginger (depends on how much you like ginger, I like a strong ginger tea, so I use 2 tablespoons of ginger).

• 2 cups of water
• 1 Tablespoon Raw Honey

How to:

• Grate Ginger (if it’s frozen, leave the skin on and use a microplane to grate) into 2 cups of water.
• Bring to a boil.
• Reduce heat and allow to simmer for 15- 20 minutes.
• Strain into a cup.
• Add Raw Honey  (which is a healing food in it’s own right: it supports the immune system, soothes sore throats, and more)

Sources: Wikipedia:  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ginger,

Medline Plus: http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/druginfo/natural/961.html ,

National Centre for Complimentary and Alternative Medicine : http://nccam.nih.gov/sites/nccam.nih.gov/files/Herbs_At_A_Glance_Ginger_06-15-2012_0.pdf?nav=gsa

Aromatherapy: An A to Z    by Patricia Davis

A Useful Recipe

While my mother was undergoing chemotherapy, I was worried about getting nutrition into her because of the nausea and her lack of appetite. I mentioned this to her nurse and she loaned me a couple of books to look through until her visit the next week ( Thank You Nurse!). I busily copied some recipes out by hand and tried them out. One was for a vegetable broth that was quite tasty and I was still using it until I misplaced my copy  after reorganizing my home office (Oops) .

I wanted to share the recipe because it is a great base for any dish, nutritious, and tasty but I couldn't remember the author's name! So, today I decided I'd try googleing for the broth. I figured " you never know, everything seems to be on the net these days and perhaps someone else thought it was a great recipe too". Guess what....I found it! Here's a link to the recipe for the Magical Mineral Broth  (I thought it was called Super Broth but I found it anyway).  Now that I've found the recipe again I'll be making it soon and trying it out in the slow cooker, with a few other tweaks for the husband's dietary needs, and try to figure out what to do with the leftover vegetables (I hate to waste them, they are still full of fiber). 

Because I found the recipe, I now knew the author's name so I googled her and found her website http://rebeccakatz.com/ . She doesn't have a lot of recipes there but I'm going to be trying a few of them and probably get her book The Cancer-Fighting Kitchen which is where the original recipe was from. From what I remember (it has been a couple of years) it was full of stuff on portion sizes, snacks, balanced nutrition, what to eat when nauseous and other great advice. I also liked the fact that the recipes were great for anyone and not just people undergoing cancer treatment.

Enjoy!