Lisa on February 3rd, 2010

Who doesn’t like a Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup?  Peanut butter and chocolate just go together.  But I guarantee that once you make your own PB&C in solid form or smoothie/shake form, you won’t ever want to go back to the prepackaged kind.  The homemade variety tastes better, it’s a whole lot better for your health, [...]

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Lisa on January 13th, 2010

Who cares about palm trees and sunny beaches when you’ve got wintery-white landscapes spread out before you and a mug of hot chocolate in your hand?  (Though I admit it would be interesting to see snow-covered palm trees…okay, and I admit that it might be nicer to be on a sunny beach with a daiquiri…)
Here’s [...]

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Lisa on October 2nd, 2009

It’s cold.  I realize that when we’re in the depths of January, we Michiganders will look back at the good old “warm” days of October with fondness (and a touch of bitterness mixed with desperation), but to me, right here, right now, it’s cold.  Last week I was riding my bicycle my usual 30 miles/week [...]

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Lisa on July 1st, 2009

An overlooked fact in the drink world:  cocktails (or mocktails) have seasons.  In the summertime, fruit-based drinks are light and refreshing; in the wintertime, hot toddies are much more appealing than an iced spritzer.  Now that summer is in full swing, I thought I’d use the classic mojito platform to come up with some new [...]

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Lisa on April 15th, 2009

Although I savor the occasional glass of grass-fed animal milk (raw if I can get it), I’m also a big fan of non-dairy milks.  They’re a nice change of pace, for one thing, and there are endless varieties of them:  rice, oat, hazelnut, hemp, almond…it seems like almost any nut, seed or grain can be [...]

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Lisa on March 27th, 2009

Making this smoothie is as easy as pie–and since it has a healthy helping of pecans accented by spices, it even tastes a bit like a pecan pie. I used almond milk as the base, but you could also use hazelnut, oat, or high-quality dairy milk. (Raw and grass-fed if you can get [...]

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Lisa on January 25th, 2009

Here’s a lush breakfast treat:  a banana-flaxseed smoothie.  Only having three ingredients makes it simple, the combination of organic milk (or non-dairy milk) and banana makes it velvety-smooth, and the flaxseeds give it a nice boost of flavor.  They also lend the smoothie a healthy dose of omega-3s since flaxseeds are higher in omega-3s than [...]

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Lisa on January 5th, 2009

Despite its secondary name of “Indian date,” the tamarind is not a date. Nor is it native to India. It originated in tropical Africa, but due to the fact that it was adopted by the Indians with gusto when it reached their shores, when it boomeranged back west, the Persians assumed the Indians [...]

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Lisa on December 10th, 2008

Here’s a healthy way to enjoy holiday treats like flavored hot chocolate: make your own! Pre-packaged drink mixes almost always contain artificial flavorings, excessive sugar, and non-dairy creamer. (Which contains mostly hydrogenated oil and corn syrup, neither of which is going to bring you holiday cheer.) Rather than reach for the Swiss [...]

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Lisa on December 7th, 2008

Does anyone else have fond memories of going to the mall as a kid and getting an Orange Julius? That used to be my favorite treat. Twenty years ago, you could find Orange Julius mixes in packets at the grocery store, too. All you had to do was add milk and blend [...]

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