• Ingredients:

• 1 Cup filtered homemade kombucha (I like to use ginger flavored)
• 1 Cup Beet kvass

• Procedure:

  Mix them both and enjoy. Tastes good when chilled.

• Add 1 tbsp of vinegar to one cup of water), after washing, rinse it in plain water.
• Slice the peaches and remove the hard pit in the center.
• Add ice cream and honey, blend them all and enjoy!

• Tips: If you are using mangoes, you can make this smoothie with yogurt or milk instead of ice-cream.

  Watch my video :

• Ingredients : 

• 2 mangos – sweet variety like Kesar mango or Banganapalli
• 3 tbsp honey – I used raw honey
• 1 cup of water
• ½ cup of ice cubes

• Procedure : 

• Wash and peel the mangos.
• Blend all ingredients, strain the excess fiber and enjoy.

Ingredients:

• One ripe banana
• 3 cups of homemade almond milk (may replace with dairy milk or coconut milk)
•  
• Procedure:
• First cut the banana and freeze it.
• Blend all the spices first, add milk and blend, then strain in nutmilk bag or fine strainer. Now blend frozen bananas adding little bit of the spice milk at a time, add honey at the end and blend.
• Amount of banana and milk are approximate, it depends on how thick you want your eggnog.
•  
• Raw honey to your liking
• Little cinnamon and 1 clove
• Grated nutmeg(must use ingredient)

Ingredients:

• 2 cups of fresh watermelon cut into 3”x3” pieces
• ¼ cup of whey ( I used clear liquid from almond yogurt)
• 1 tbsp Celtic sea salt
• Filtered water, 2 quarts
• 1tbsp grated ginger(optional)

Procedure:

• Place all the ingredients in a glass jar and stir well, cover, leave it on the counter at room temperature for 1-2 days. Once it is done store in the refrigerator.
• You can strain the fruit right before you drink as you pour it in the glasses. Don’t forget to add ice cubes to this drink if it is not refrigerated.
• Once it is done, it should taste a little sour, little sweet, little salty and fizzy.

Tips:

• You can save some of this drink and use this as starter for the next batch.
• If you don’t like the salty taste, you can cut back on the salt and use more of the previous drink as culture for next batch.
• In winter, I usually leave it in oven.(I preheat the oven to 150ºF and turn it off once I place the drink). Because oven is insulated, it prevents heat from escaping.

Other uses:

• Use this in salad dressings in place of vinegar.
• Can add this to soups.

Note:

*   Don’t cut watermelon into small size pieces; they should be cut to medium size pieces2-3” pieces, as cutting into smaller pieces will give more sugar and result in over-fermentation of the drink and it might even develop mold if it is over-fermented.

*   You don’t have to add whey in this recipe. An extra tsp of celtic salt is good if you don’t add whey. More salt will inhibit undesirable microorganisms.

*   I don’t recommend store bought whey powder as this is often dried at high temperatures. This process makes whey protein toxic.

*   In the winter you need to keep it out for one more day. If you want it more fizzy, add more fruit.

*   This can stay in fridge for up to 6 months. The longer you leave in fridge the better it taste.

Recipe:

• 1 liter water(33.8oz)
• 3 tea bags
• 1 cinnamon stick
• 1tsp grated ginger
• Juice from one lemon
• lime zest and 2 slices of lime to garnish
• Juice from one orange
• 1/8 cup of cane or date sugar(can use less if you don’t like it sweet)

Procedure : 

• Bring water to light boil, turn off the heat, add hibiscus tea, lime zest and cinnamon stick, cover and steep for 2 hours.
• Strain and discard the used tea, cinnamon, ginger and lemon zest. Add sugar and garnish with lime or orange slice. Serve over ice.
• If you don’t have any of the above ingredients even just steeping tea in water also tastes good.
• For Longer version to get full flavor from hibiscus, steep the tea in cold water for 1-2 days or until the flower sepals turn pale.

Tip:

It tastes better if you serve it really cold.

Caution:

• Do not heat the tea for longer periods, it can release bitter substances found in herbs.
• It will stain clothes, containers and countertops.
• Some studies shows that Hibiscus tea may contain phytoestrogens, so it is discouraged for women on hormonal replacement, oral contraceptives, during pregnancy and breast feeding, since the potential side effects to the baby or fetus are unclear.
• It is also important to ensure use of common red Hibiscus, Hibiscus Sabdariffa only, as there are almost 200 varieties of the plant, and the effects of all of them are not known.
• Those wanting to use the tea to control their blood pressure should consult their doctor before beginning a course of treatment to ensure it is the best option, and close monitoring of blood pressure by  primary care provider is necessary if you are already on medication prior to starting this tea.
• Small number of people have experienced hallucinations from this tea. It is recommended not to drive a car or engage in other potentially dangerous activities until you know how your body responds to this tea.
• Hibiscus plant used for tea is Hibiscus sabdariffa var. sabdariffa race ruber. The red calyces of the pink flowers are used in tea. Calyces are flower parts that cover seeds. Other races of Hibiscus sabdariffa var sabdariffa and Hibiscus Sabdariffa var altissima have non edible parts. I recommend buying this tea rather than picking and drying your own hibiscus flowers.

Reference:

Read more: http://www.livestrong.com/article/470893-can-hibiscus-tea-be-made-from-any-hibiscus-plants/#ixzz2ISmCLM68

Studies:

• A study published in the Journal of Human Hypertension has shown that drinking Hibiscus tea can reduce high blood pressure in people with type 2 diabetes – The study’s lead author has noted that hibiscus flowers contain anthocyanins, which are believed to be the active antihypertensive compounds, acting as angiotensin converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitors.^[
• Link – this study showed decreased oxidative stress and enhanced antioxidant power. Increased hippuric acid in urine indicates high biotransformation of polyphenols ingested from HSE.

Watch Video :

This is a Video link by Dr. Diane McKay from Tufts University nutrition research center in Boston, on a study done on Hibiscus tea.

Didn’t expect this drink would turn out to be so delicious and beautiful at the same time!!!

Here is the truffles recipe made with seeds.

Ingredients: 

• ¼ Honeydew melon slices(about 3 cups),
• 1 cup milk,
• ¼ cup honey

Procedure:

• Cut the fruit in whatever size is doable for your blender.
• Milk can be taken fresh or boiled or toned, as per preference 
• Put them all in blender 

This takes very good and yummy, right after you make it. If you let it stay for sometime it tends to get slight bitter tinge.

Ingredients:

• 3 stalks of Celery
• Juice from 2 oranges, freshly squeezed

Procedure:

• I cut celery into small pieces and blended in vitamix with 3 cups of filtered water.
• If you can make it in pulverizer it is ideal.
• If you don’t have juicer you can make this in any high speed blender.
• Strain the juice in mesh strainer
• Add freshly squeezed orange juice with pulp.

I use celery pulp to make pulpmix crackers in dehydrator. 

Ingredients:

•  6 beetroot leaves
• Juice from 2 oranges
• 15 green grapes
• Small piece of dry kelp (soaked in water for 1 hour)
• ¼ cup of pine nuts ( may replace with walnuts or pecans)
• 8 oz filtered water

Procedure:

Blend all in Vitamix and enjoy!

Cold Remedy – Cinnamon Tea

BY DRSAILA · AUGUST 5, 2016

Popularly known as a weight-loss tea, Cinnamon tea is not only soothing and refreshing, but has great health benefits as well. Cinnamon and cloves are natural antibacterials. Ginger has cleansing effect on our body. Honey has many healing properties. This is one of the healthy combination tea to have whenever you are coming up with cold. 

Ingredients : 

• Water, 1 cup
• Ginger, 1" piece
• Cinnamon bark, 3" sticks
• Cloves, 4
• Honey, Raw, organic, 2 tsp. (optional)

Procedure : 

1. Boil water, turn off the stove, add Cinnamon, crushed ginger and cloves.
2. Cover it and wait for half an hour to one hour.
3. Add honey before drinking.
4. Enjoy sipping all through the day when you feel cold.
5. May squeeze some lemon if you like it tart.

Chia watermelon Fresca

BY DRSAILA · JULY 2, 2015

To ensure adequate hydration during the long Ramadan summer fast, I came up with this easy drink recipe. Fuel a long fasting day with Chia seeds and watermelon.

Did you know? Chia seeds, so called nutritional power houses, absorb about twelve times their weight in liquid forming a gel. Gel fiber in chia seeds helps hydrate body and also bring down food cravings. It is highly recommended to use them during fasting times, exercise and in hot weather.

Watermelon is a great source of water and electrolytes, and natural fluid replacement for mild dehydration. Its high electrolyte content along with water is simply Mother Nature's gift to beat summer heat.

Ingredients:

• 4 cups of watermelon
• Organic Chia seeds, 1 tsp (if you don’t have Chia seeds, you can substitute with Sabza seeds or Falooda seeds)
• Honey, 1 tsp (optional) to experience natural sweet taste of watermelon, I recommend not to use honey

Method:

• Puree the watermelon in a blender, add honey.
• Pour in glasses and add chia seeds.
• Wait for 20-30 minutes for chia gel to form.
• Stir before serving.
• You may add ice if you like.

Fiery Lava Drink

BY DRSAILA · JUNE 26, 2015

This fiery red color nutritious drink is something that I created by accident one day when I added banana to a wrong container; and from that day, making this drink at home became my weekend routine. 

Ingredients:

• 1 medium size red bell pepper
• ½ Banana
• ¼ tsp Red chilly powder
• 5 Cashew nuts
• 2 tbsp Lemon juice
• 1clove of garlic
• Salt to taste

Procedure:

• Blend all the ingredients in vitamix with 2 cups of water.
• Blend of sweet and spicy tastes in this drink is just awesome.

Note: Replace chilly powder with cayenne if you don’t like it too spicy.

Kale Gooseberry Smoothie

BY DRSAILA · JUNE 25, 2015

Kale Gooseberry Smoothie is my Breakfast smoothie for most of the weekdays. I don’t usually eat anything else for breakfast once I have this smoothie. This is very filling and nutrient dense.

Ingredients:

• One apple, cored and diced
• 6 large kale leaves
• 2 inch piece of dried Seaweed(soak for few minutes), I used kelp, can also use dulse flakes
• 1 gooseberry, cut into slices and seeded
• ½cup water
• handful of pecans or walnuts
• ¼ tsp of spirulina powder

Procedure : 

Blend them all in a high speed blender like Vitamix and enjoy.

This is creamy with no added fat.

Mulled Apple Cider

BY DRSAILA · JUNE 25, 2015

This is just a fruit beverage, this is not an alcoholic beverage. This is a very flavorful drink. This drink is a special drink in Boston, my home town.

Ingredients:

• 1 quart apple cider, fresh, unfiltered (you find this in refrigerated section with fruits and veggies or sometimes kept on ice, this is not the one you find on the shelves in juice aisle)
• ½ large orange or one small orange sliced
• 2 cinnamon sticks
• 5 cloves
• Tinge of nutmeg powder
• 3 pods of cardamom
• 3 all spice berries
• Small piece of ginger(if you like more ginger flavor you can grate this)

Procedure:

1. Place all the ingredients in a sauce pan, cover it and bring it to boil, once it bubbles up, cover and simmer for 30 minutes.
2. Strain out the spices and serve hot.
3. If you wish, you could ladle this into teapot.
4. Add cinnamon stick and Star anise to each cup for garnish when you serve.

If your cider is too tart, you need a touch of brown sugar or maple syrup.  Some people roast the spices before adding them to drink. I never roast them.

I found that the longer the spices and orange steeped, the better the apple cider tastes.

I used this recipe for a party, and it was very successful and popular.

Enjoy the warm delicious aroma!

If you have crockpot or slow cooker, it works great to make mulled apple cider. It stews well below the simmer temperature in crockpot. Also great being warmed in a crockpot or slow cooker if you are not serving all the guests at the same time.

Watch my video :