Green "Swamp" Wafers

Top o' the Morning, to Ye!  I hope you have a wonderfully happy gorgeous green day!

I had fun this week making another new recipe from Dr. Gabriel Cousens' Rainbow Green Living Cuisine book!

Since it's St. Patrick's Day, I figured something green would be fun!

With a dough made from almonds, spirulina, oil, and salt, these savory little treats are health-packed and unique!  I used about half the spirulina called for because I'm not a fan of that flavor, so I was being careful :)

These are odd little flaky crisps, and they seem like a versatile base!  Plain and simple, or maybe add stuff!

Here's a picture of the different things I tired:

From top left:

Raisins, organic cocoa, drops of agave

Cinnamon, maca powder, onion and garlic powder

Hazelnuts, chia seeds, and plain

I figure this lets me play around with sweet and savory!  So, I spread it out, and then put it in the dehydrator!  I don't know if my dehydrator just doesn't work that well, but it took a lot longer to dehydrate than the recipe called for.  But in the end, they had this great wafer texture, crumbly yet crisp!

All dried out!

And now I have these wonderfully healthy treats to sample for my run this weekend!

Almonds, I have discussed before - good healthy fats, calcium, proteins, antioxidants.

Salt is great for post-run replenishing sodium.

And spirulina, a blue-green algea (yeah, sounds gross, I know) but, as University of Maryland Medical Center states, "Spirulina is a type of blue-green algae that is rich in protein, vitamins, minerals, and carotenoids (a type of antioxidant that can help protect cells from damage). It contains nutrients, including B complex vitamins, beta-carotene, vitamin E, manganese, zinc, copper, iron, selenium, and gamma linolenic acid (an essential fatty acid)." This complete potein - containing all amino acids - help improve the immune system, fight cancer, protect against allergic reactions, help with growth of your body's good bacteria, and protect yout liver!  Of course, this is a newer item to the world of research, so they say more studies are needed to know for sure what wonderful benefits this gorgeous green goodie will provide!

And to go with this savory treat, I did have some processed green drink... but no beer here!  I know it's not as good as fresh-made green smoothie, but I was short on time.  So Dave and I just enjoyed this lovely sweet drink:

Green Goodness drink for Bolthouse Farms

Happy Green Day, my friends!  I hope you enjoyed whatever you did (though, of course, I hope you took some care for your liver!)

~Katie

Dining on Iodine

While we spent time on the beaches, we would often see a lot of different sea plants washed up. And it made me think of all the seaweeds that, sadly, I do not care for eating, but wish I liked! I am working to incorporate more, and have found a few options thus far.

Iodine is critical for a healthy thyroid (which helps regulate our metabolism) and for normal development of the body and brain. Deficiency in the US is pretty rare now, since table salt has iodine added to it.

But what if you don't want to use fortified supplemental salt, and are trying to get away from processed sodium?

You can find it in natural salty sea plants!

No, I don't recommend combing the beach for whatever wash-ups you find to toss in your salads! ;-)

But there are a number of sea plants you can buy and add to your eating habits. While there are thousands of different sea vegetables, some options are nori, hijiki, wakame, arame, kombu, dulse, and kelp. And, in addition to being amazing sources of iodine, sea vegetables hold a host of health benefits! They may help reduce estrogen-related cancers; they are good sources of different antioxidants; they contain a unique compound called fucoidans that provide anti-inflammatory, anti-cancer, anticoagulant, antithrombotic, and antiviral properties; and they contain a vast array of other health and beauty minerals! They contain calcium, copper, iodine, iron, magnesium, manganese, molybdenum, phosphorus, potassium, selenium, vanadium, and zinc.

Iodine doesn't stay in your system very long, so it is important to get it regularly. I bought a little shaker of raw kelp granules, and I'll just sprinkle a tiny dash of that on salads or vegetable plates. It has a light salt flavor, no fishy flavor, and has more than enough natural iodine in it - so you don't need much at all, meaning this baby will last me for a while.

I've also had raw kelp noodles from Loving Hut before, and it was delicious! I have been told that Sea Tangle sells a good product, and hope to try it sometime!

I have also purchased some nori sheets, and hope to try making a sushi-style veggie roll sometime, but I am still a bit intimidated by the sea salt flavor. But I figure the kelp is a good starting point for me!

So however you choose your iodine, consider something new with sea vegetables and try to ditch the table salt. You can buy flakes to sprinkle on foods, toss strips with salads or veggie mixes, add bits to soups, make your own wraps, or whatever other ideas you come up with!

Happy little sea plant sitting in the sun :)

~Katie