I don’t know about you, but I love spring! Today, my husband and I did some work in our garden and everything is starting to come back to life!! Our Crape Myrtles are starting to bud, our Irises are growing and our tulips are simply beautiful!!!
More tulips!!
Indoors, we have several plants in our home and last weekend we got a Hyacinth from our favorite farmer’s market. We decided to leave it in our living room because not only is it beautiful but it gives off a heavenly scent.
Hyacinth
Now gardening is something that we truly enjoy. Sometimes, one way to Achieve Complete Wellness is simply being in the moment. Doing things such as getting outside to enjoy the fresh air, gardening, baking, taking a walk or reading a good book is not only relaxing but may help boost your mood! Give it a try and see how it feels!!
Yesterday, I was so happy to see a notification simply letting me know that Achieve Complete Wellness hit 100 followers!!! I wanted to thank all of you for joining me in this journey and I look forward to sharing more health tips, recipes, ways to focus on the positive and stories with you!!!! 🙂
One breakfast food that we enjoy having with our morning coffee is oatmeal. It’s a simple, easy breakfast to make and it’s so good for you! We love adding blueberries or cinnamon and apples to our oatmeal especially on a chilly morning.
Now there are so many health benefits to adding oatmeal to your breakfast routine and since this blog is about Achieving Complete Wellness, I wanted to share a few of them with you today.
Oatmeal:
1. Helps reduce cholesterol levels which includes both the good cholesterol (HDL) as well as the bad cholesterol (LDL) in the body.
2. Helps decrease blood sugar levels.
3. It’s a great source of dietary fiber.
4. It’s a good source of antioxidants.
5. Helps prevent heart disease.
6. Helps your immune system because oatmeal has B vitamins, Vitamin B6, Vitamin E and Vitamin K to name a few.
7. It’s a good source of protein.
So, when your wondering what to make for breakfast, make a bowl of oatmeal for yourself! Here’s to your health!!! 😀
I don’t know about you, but I love a cup of coffee in the morning. Usually, we just have our coffee with a little bit of almond milk. Recently, we decided to try adding a half a teaspoon of turmeric in our morning coffee. We keep hearing how there are so many health benefits from using turmeric that we thought we would give it a try. To me, adding the turmeric to my coffee gives it a little hint if spice with a “good morning zing” and it tastes amazing!!
Turmeric is like a cousin to the ginger family. It comes from the Curcuma longa plant, which grows in India and other countries.
Now you may be asking yourself, why would I put it in my coffee? Well, after looking around for information about turmeric, there seems to be a lot of reasons. Just after a month of having it in my coffee, I’ve noticed reduced inflammation throughout my body and after my morning exercises that my muscle recovery is faster.
Below are some of the proven health benefits that come from adding turmeric to your daily routine:
1. It helps with inflammation
2. It decreases joint pain.
3. It’s a great natural boost to your immune system.
4. It helps with digestion.
I’ve also learned that by consuming ½ teaspoon to 1 teaspoon turmeric powder with food, or as I do with my morning java, it has amazing heath benefits. So, get those recipes out with turmeric in it!!! 🙂
Note: When cooking with turmeric, curry is another spice that pairs very well with it.
One of my favorite ingredients to use when cooking is garlic!! I love the smell of it while it is simmering on the stove and love the flavor it adds to my sauce (yes, I said sauce!!) and homemade soups. One of the things that contributes to its amazing smell and its wonderful flavor is garlic’s active ingredient called allicin. It is packed with antioxidants and Vitamin C & B6 too.
Many people are unaware of all the health benefits that this little member of the onion family provides, so I thought that I would highlight a few of them today. Whether you cut it up, sauté it, eat it raw or mince it, garlic provides so many health benefits.
Now, I’m not a doctor, but I do believe in the health properties of certain things we eat and as the old expression goes, “you are what you eat.”
Some of the health benefits of garlic include:
1. Fighting the common cold and preventing viruses.
2. Boosting your immune system.
3. Assisting with acne problems.
4. Aiding with weight loss.
5. Assisting with lowering blood pressure and lowering the risk of heart disease.
Now these are just a few of the many benefits of adding garlic to your daily diet. I also want to share with you my Garlic Dressing Recipe which tastes wonderful. Try it on your salad and let me know what you think.
Garlic Salad Dressing
Ingredients 4 garlic cloves, crushed 1/2 cup olive oil 1/4 cup salad oil (not peanut oil) 1 egg yolk at room temperature 1 1/2 tablespoons lemon juice 1/4 teaspoon cayenne Black pepper, freshly ground to taste 1/4 cup dry white wine
Instructions
1. Soak the crushed garlic in the salad oil for a half hour.
2. Place the egg yolk, lemon juice, and seasonings in a blender and blend them together.
3. Mix the garlic oil and the olive oil together and mix them together with the ingredients in the blender.
4. Remove the mixture from the blender and stir in enough wine to thin it to your taste.
Hope you enjoy this recipe!!! Here’s to your health!!!! 🙂
Finally, it’s beginning to feel like fall!!! The air is crisp, our Crape Myrtles are starting to lose their leaves and the Farmer’s Markets are closing for the season. One of my favorite things during this time of year is the phenomenal smell of baked apples in the oven!! The other night, I made a Homemade Apple Crisp using Cortland Apples!!! It was so good that I wanted to share my recipe with you.
Prepping the Apples
Ingredients
4 Medium Cooking Apples – I use Cortland Apples, but you can use whatever tart apple you like.
3/4 Cup Brown Sugar
1/2 Cup Flour
1/2 Cup Old Fashion Oats
1/3 Cup Butter – Softened
3/4 Teaspoon of Nutmeg
3/4 Teaspoon of Cinnamon
Instructions
1. Pre-heat your oven to 375 degrees. While the oven is pre-heating, use Baking Pam or Butter to grease your pan. I use my 11 × 7 inch Pyrex baking pan for this recipe.
2. Cut your apples and spread them around in your pan.
3. Mix the rest of the ingredients in a bowl and sprinkle them over your apples.
It was a beautiful fall morning the other day and I wanted to cook a hearty breakfast for my husband. I decided on making a Puffed Pancake. The pancake itself is light and fluffy and all you do is mix the ingredients and bake in the oven.
Ingredients
Half-Stick Butter 3 eggs 3/4 cup almond milk 3/4 cup flour 1/4 teaspoon vanilla
Instructions
1. Pre-heat the oven to 425 degrees. Put half-stick of butter in a heavy baking dish (I use my Corning Ware Dish). Put pan in the oven the whole making the batter. 2. Mix 3 eggs in mixer until they are foamy. 3. Add the almond milk, flour and vanilla and blend ingredients. 4. While mixing the ingredients, check the pan periodically so the butter doesn’t burn & take hot pan out and roll the pan so the butter greases the pan. 5. Pour the batter into the hot pan and place it back in the oven.
6. Bake for 25 minutes until the pancakes is puffed and golden brown.
Being Italian, pasta is in my blood!!!!! The problem is all those carbs and the older I get, the more I look for healthier options. The good news is that I’ve found an easy and simple replacement for pasta which is zucchini!!! I found that replacing pasta with twirled zucchini is a fantastic substitution and such a healthy alternative. Here’s a simple recipe that I made tonight for dinner and all you need on hand is:
1 Onion
3 Cloves of Garlic
6-7 Plum Tomatoes
Olive oil
1 Large Zucchini
1 Package of Frozen Mussels
1 Can of Drained Cannelli Beans
Italian Seasoning and Powdered Garlic
Instructions:
1. In a large pan, pour some olive oil and then add a diced onion and fresh garlic. Slowly saute them for a couple minutes on medium heat. Add chopped tomatoes and the cannelli beans and give it a stir.
2. Continue to cook on a medium heat. Add your mussls and seasonings to taste. Lastly, add the twirled Zucchini and stir.
3. Let the mixture cook on a low setting. From start to finish this recipe took 30 minutes.
My husband and I really loved this recipe and hope that you will enjoy it too!!!! Here’s to healthy eating!!!!
I have created this site to help people have fun in the kitchen. I write about enjoying life both in and out of my kitchen. Life is short! Make the most of it and enjoy!
Achieve Complete Wellness 