Welcome back hippies, today is Tasty Tuesday! I want to focus on one ingredient or item to be in all the recipes and want to do one day’s worth of meals, so, for today we are going to focus on Antioxidants!
In summary, antioxidants hunt out free radicals in the body which are produced as a byproduct of the body’s metabolic process to create energy. These free radicals can do harm to the body when not counteracted by antioxidants. The body naturally produces some antioxidants and seeks them out in our foods and these can help to limit and even repair problems created by oxidants and free radicals! If we increase our intake of anti-oxidants we can help to repair these damages such as: arthritis, asthma, Alzheimer’s, depression, cancer, diabetes, etc. Antioxidants aren’t a “repair all” and if you eat loads of berries every day that won’t guarantee you to not get cancer someday but increasing antioxidant intake can help to fight off some of these problems. Some foods that are high in antioxidants are berries, dark green veggies, dark colored grapes, nuts, and orange veggies like carrots and sweet potatoes. Now, let’s go through a day’s worth of recipes to try to increase antioxidant intake with healthy, delicious foods!
Breakfast:
Sweet Potato and Spinach Omelet!
Ingredients:
- 2-4 egg whites
- 1/3-1/2 cup diced sweet potatoes
- Handful of baby spinach
- 1 tsp minced garlic
- Shredded cheese of your choice
- Toppings like salsa, or hot sauce if desired!
- Oil or cooking spray
Directions:
- Pre-cook the sweet potatoes, diced, over med. Heat until done, these will just be thrown into the omelet after so they need to be mostly cooked.
- When the potatoes are almost done, add some garlic and the spinach, allow that to cook until spinach is wilted and sautéed.
- Pour your egg whites into a pan and allow them to cook most of the way.
- When the eggs are cooked most of the way but are still pliable, add the spinach and sweet potato mixture to one half of the eggs. Add some cheddar or mozzarella cheese if desired!
- Flip the other half of the eggs over top, allow both sides to brown and allow the middle to cook thoroughly.
- Enjoy with some salsa, hot sauce, or avocado on top!
Lunch:
Spinach and Berry Salad
Ingredients: (these are less measured and mostly just put as much as you would like.)
- Baby spinach and salad greens (darker the better)
- Chopped celery
- Chopped pear
- Walnuts
- Berries of your choice
- Dried Cranberries
- Pomegranate seeds
- Avocado
- Goat cheese
- Dressing: really you could put whatever you like but I would recommend a balsamic vinaigrette, maybe a sweet one.
Directions:
- Basically, your normal salad making procedure here but rinse the greens and chop the celery and pears.
- Add all of it to a bowl. Mostly spinach and greens then add the toppings to taste.
- Enjoy with some dressing or without!
Dinner:
Sweet Potato, Kale, and Shrimp Skillet
Ingredients:
- Olive oil
- ½ cup diced onion
- Red pepper flakes
- 2 cloves minced garlic
- 2 cups diced sweet potatoes
- 2 cups fresh shrimp
- 3 cups trimmed and coarsely chopped kale
- Salt and pepper to taste
Directions:
- In a cast iron skillet: add olive oil over med. Heat.
- Add onion and red pepper flakes, cook until onions are translucent.
- Add garlic and sauté for about 30 seconds.
- Add sweet potato and cook until soft, you may need to add a few tablespoons of water to help steam the potatoes.
- Add the shrimp and cook until pink.
- Turn the heat down to low and add the kale, being sure to stir and cook until soft and wilted.
- Add salt and pepper to taste.
Snack/Desert:
This is kind of a breakfast/snack/desert, but I’m going to use this as today’s desert:
Very Berry Fro-Yo cups!
Ingredients:
- ¼ cup finely crushed or chopped almonds
- ¼ cup granola
- 2-4 tbs melted coconut oil
- 2 tbs sugar or sugar substitute (optional, just helps add sweetness and cut the sour of the berries and yogurt)
- ¾ cup – 1 ½ cup Greek yogurt
- 2 – 4 tbs of honey
- 1 ½ cups+ Berries of your choice
- A muffin tin and liners
Direction:
- Line each muffin tin with a non-stick liner
- In a bowl, combine crushed almonds, granola, sugar, and coconut oil. This should be a malleable mixture that mostly stays together when you press it into the cups. Think graham cracker pie crust.
- Add the honey to the yogurt and add to the cups on top of the crust.
- Add the berries to the top. This can be blue berries, acai, raspberries, strawberries, black berries, etc.
- Freeze until firm for about 6 hours. They should stay set after that to be left at room temp or in the fridge!
- Enjoy!
Well, I certainly hope you have enjoyed this week’s tasty Tuesday and I am looking forward to hearing about how you liked these recipes! Make sure to leave a like and a comment and let me know what you would like to see next! See you tomorrow for Women’s Wednesdays!
Peace and Love,
M. Joy
The Hippie Chick 