Vegan Coconut Yogurt Parfait

After a rather stressful week, I decided to reward myself with a sweet, yet still healthy treat for this weekend! 😀

Recipe as follows:

Coconut Yogurt

Coconut meat of 2 coconuts (medium thickness)

1/8 cup water

1/4t probiotic powder (can get from iherb.com, I’m using Enzymediz Pro Bio)

1t coconut oil

In a high speed blender, blend all the ingredients to a smooth consistency.

Put into a glass mason jar, cover with lid and leave in somewhere warm to ferment (the yogurt will expand slightly so make sure to leave some space!).

Sets overnight.

*Note: Once fermented keep in the fridge for 3-4 days. Will continue to get stronger and more tart in the fridge everyday.

The Parfait

Actually this needs no recipe because you can just stack whatever fruits and nuts you like. 🙂

For my parfait, the base layer is made up of chia seeds (soak in water/nut milk first), the next layer is coconut yogurt, followed by banana slices, blueberries, another layer of coconut yogurt and top with mulberries and pecans! I also sprinkle mine with raw carob powder. Yum.

Update on Oriole the birdie

We have released Oriole yesterday! Although can’t bear but we are both glad that she is in a much better place now. She was happily hopping around tree branches when we left the tree. Hope that she will be able to feed herself well. :’)

Emo-ing before the release

 

Introducing Oriole :)

Last Saturday was a memorable day. Bf and I went for a morning jog when a striking yellow bird caught our eyes. We observed it for some time and we noticed something strange about it. It can’t fly.
 

Initially we thought the bird had injured it’s wing and as it was hopping dangerously on the road, we decided to catch it and bring it home. I was touched by my bf’s action; he instinctively took off his running singlet to grab the bird. Thankfully we managed to find a Mcdonald paper bag to contain the bird and brought it back safely. 

After some research online, we found out that the bird we caught is a juvenile Black-naped Oriole. Being a juvenile, it might not have the ability to fly yet. My bf and I decided to nurse it until it can fly. He even suggested buying a cage for it which at first I thought is unnecessary, but after seeing this oriole happily hopping around in it, I think he did the right thing. This oriole may be staying with us just temporarily, but this shouldn’t be the reason to give it less love and care than what it deserves. Quote something my bf says, “过门是客“.Lol

Trying to bathe Oriole 🙂

His act of kindness toward this bird shows me another sideof him I’ve yet to discover (I always thought he only loves his marine aquarium), and I’m grateful for this. 🙂

Beauty Detox Books + New ingredient for Green Smoothie!

Finally finish reading the 2 books by Kimberly Snyder! When it comes to books on nutrition, or of self-improvement genre, I can often finish them in lightning speed. The same does not apply to novel though, I always take forever to finish them. 

I would recommend anyone who wishes to change their diet for the better to start with Kimberly Snyder, because she will touch on proper transition into a truly healthy diet which is often not covered, albeit the importance. Diving into any form of diet without proper transition will certainly bring failure especially when detox symptoms arise. Kimberly also don’t stick to any dietary classification (raw foodist etc), which is good because you can rest assure that her views are not narrow-minded. 

However, one thing I must stress is healthy eating is not merely a diet, it’s a lifestyle. We should always strive to eat as healthy as possible at all times if we want to ditch health problems, skin problems for good. Occasional indulgence is okay though if you are eating your greens and fruits most of the time. 

Okay enough of preaching. 😛

My breakfast smoothie today is worth a mention because I’ve included an ingredient which is rarely seen in green smoothie recipes despite it’s tremendous benefits. It is frequently used in Traditional Chinese Medicine. 

Introducing… Chinese Yam!

I always know Chinese Yam is good for colon health. It acts like a broom that sweeps away toxins in our colon thanks to it’s large amount of mucilage, a mucous like substance, similar to ladyfinger. It is also useful in treating poor appetite, diarrhoea and cough.

Interesting fact: SNSD member, Yuri, revealed that her secret to clear skin is grinding chinese yam and drinking it every morning. 🙂

Chinese Yam Smoothie

Chinese Yam (about 8″)

1 Red Apple

1 Green Apple

1 large Banana

Greens (spinach, kale)

1 handful of Goji Berries

1 cup of cold water

The chinese yam will bind all the ingredients together and gives the smoothie a gooey consistency which I personally love. 🙂

Have a great day ahead!

“Green” Smoothie Recipe :)

My boyfriend’s lovely sister shared with me this wonderful smoothie recipe yesterday and coincidentally I have all the ingredients so I went on to try it this morning. I was amazed by how good it tastes; it can easily pass off as a Smoothie King’s drink if you have fully ripe fruits to begin with. 🙂

I love how you can sneak loads of green veggies in it and the end product has no sign of green which often turns people off. It’s technically a green smoothie but it’s not green in colour. Best of both worlds I would say! 😀 Definitely a smoothie I would introduce to beginners who just started to foray into making green smoothies.

The original recipe calls for:

Dragonfruit

Pineapple

Banana

Spinach

I tweaked the recipe because just spinach alone is not enough to satisfy my daily needs of greens.

My concoction:

1 cup of baby spinach

1 cup of mixed greens

1 small handful of alfafa sprouts

1 tbs lemon juice

1 large banana

1/2 cup of pineapple

1/2 a red dragonfruit

1 cup of water

*Note: All the fruits should be frozen so that the drink will be icy cold like those sold in Smoothie King, without having to put ice which will dilute the smoothie!

Featuring my new smoothie tumbler!

Happy drinking! 😀