Shamrock Shake: Make this tasty drink for St. Patrick’s Day!

St. Patrick’s Day is coming. This is the time to have some fun and use up the 10% of your diet on the extras like green beer, wings and potato skins.

Once the 17^th is past, you will want to get back to eating like you do 90% of the time with lots of healthy grains, lean protein, good fats and vegetables.

The benefits of a brightly coloured assortment of raw and cooked vegetables are numerous:

• A variety of vegetables have all of the vitamins and minerals we need to keep our bodies brimming with energy.


• Antioxidants in vegetables may decrease the risk of cancer.


• High fibre in vegetables lowers the risk of heart disease, stroke and diabetes.


• Vegetables fill us up helping us to maintain a healthy body weight.


• Vegetables are generally alkaline in nature helping us to maintain a good pH balance. The muscle and joint pains associated with an acidic diet will disappear when adding more vegetables on a regular basis.

Here are a couple of tasty ways to easily incorporate more vegetables into your diet. They are super healthy and unbelievably good!

Shamrock Shake with Kale/Spinach

(trust me – you won’t even taste it)

Ingredients

?   2 cups of rice, almond or hemp milk. Note – Use regular milk if you wish.

?   3 pieces frozen banana

?   6 frozen strawberries

?   2 tbsp. ground flax

?   2 kale leaves – washed and detached from the stems or 1 handful washed spinach

 

 

Directions

1. Put all ingredients into the blender.


2. Blend until smooth.


3. Add 2 scoops of protein powder (i.e. whey, rice, hemp, soy).  Alternately you can add 2 tbsp. peanut or almond butter in place of the protein powder. Blend for about 10 seconds more.

 

Steamed Edamame Beans

Ingredients

?  1 cup of frozen edamame beans in the shell

?   2 cups of water

Directions

1. Bring the water to a boil.


2. Add the frozen beans and cook for 4 minutes.


3. Drain the water and place the beans in a serving bowl.


4. Sprinkle with sea salt and shell (like taking peas from a pod).

Check out our YouTube video (below) to see Diane making these snacks. Go to our website for these recipes to add delicious vegetables to your eating plan.

• Everyday Coleslaw


• Brussel Sprouts with walnut oil and nutmeg


• Spring Green Pea Soup with Mint