This Summer's Top 3 Cooling Drinks

Summer certainly seems to have come early this year (not that I am complaining!) but this does mean we will be on the hunt for ways to stay cool and keep our body temperature regulated both during the day and at night.

In India where temperatures soar during the summer months, yogurt is often used to make drinks known as lassi's to help people stay cool. Yogurt is naturally cooling on both the digestive system and body generally and when added to water, it becomes a great hydrating drink to quench that thirst!

A Traditional Lassi is usually savory, seasoned with cumin, salt or cilantro or all of these things. I have put a more middle eastern twist on this first recipe with sumac, another spice known for its cooling properties.

Serves 2

1/2 cup greek yogurt (full fat please!)
100 ml cold water
1/4 tsp Spice Sanctuary cumin ground
1/4 tsp Spice Sanctuary sumac

Mix all ingredients in a blender and drink cold!

My second version of lassi is using watermelon, another cooling ingredient in itself and buttermilk. Buttermilk is essentially a fermented milk drink with acidity in its taste which actually benefits the gut as it acts like a probiotic. For a little exoticness, I've added rose water into the mix to further boost the cooling nature of this delicious drink! And for spice, I chose fennel seeds and fresh mint. Both of these work on the digestive systems, dispersing the heat away from there and also cooling the body down too. So much of our body heat and internal heat resides in our gut and it is important to cool this area down as much as any other.

Watermelon Mint & Rose Lassi

Serves 2

1 cup watermelon chunks

1/2 tsp Spice Sanctuary Fennel Seeds

2   fresh mint leaves

1/2 tsp Rose water

200ml Buttermilk (or you could also use kefir as an alternative probiotic)

Blend all the ingredients together and enjoy cold over ice.

Last but not least, since the base of lassi is always dairy based, I would be remiss if I didn't create a recipe suitable for those with lactose intolerances. 

This Peach and Pistachio Lassi is quite rich and decadent and so easy to make.

Serves 1

100-125 ml cold Pistachio milk (made from pistachios and water, blended and strained - no need to soak)

1/4 tsp Spice Sanctuary Cardamom Ground seeds

1 Peach, cut into chunks with skin on

drizzle maple syrup to taste

Blend all the ingredients together and enjoy immediately!

There you have it, 3 easy ways to help you sip on something cool this summer and guaranteed to be patio pleasers too!

Spice Detox with Golden Milk Tea

2015 is here and it's going to be a great year so why not start the year as you mean to go on or at least try!! Ever since coming back from Vietnam (more on that trip later!) I have been feeling a little sluggish and was inspired to create a Spice Queen version of a drink my Mum used to give me as a child to get me over my winter ailments and blues.

Golden Milk is a traditional Ayurvedic drink made with turmeric and milk and then different variations of spices after that, used both for cleansing and improving immunity against colds and flu.

The colouring agent, curcumin, in turmeric, the key spice in this recipe, helps increase bile production which the liver needs to eliminate toxins from our bodies. It is also a powerful anti-inflammatory and so works the digestive system too which is equally important in detoxing. It is important that the better the curcumin content the more effective using turmeric for this purpose will be.

The response I received from viewers when I demonstrated this recipe on TV recently was amazing so here is the recipe that will get you addicted to this beautiful golden healthy drink!

Ingredients (Serves 1):

1 Cup Almond or Organic Milk

1 tsp  Spice Sanctuary Turmeric ( known as a liver cleanser)

1/4 tsp Spice Sanctuary Coorg Bold Cardamom Ground (a good diuretic and good for digestion)

1/4 tsp Spice Sanctuary Ginger Powder (known to help blood flow and digestion)

pinch   Spice Sanctuary Saffron (known to help cleanse the liver)

1 tsp   Organic Coconut Oil

Honey to taste

How to Make:

1. Pour the milk and spices into a blender. Blend together for a minute or half that time if you have a high speed blender.

2. Next, transfer to a saucepan, add the coconut oil and honey and bring the milk to a boil on a low heat, stirring occasionally.

How to Enjoy:

1. Drink this golden deliciousness immediately and preferably first thing in the morning and at least an hour before bedtime. If the spices leave a residue on the bottom of your cup, give it a stir as you're drinking.

HAPPY DETOXING AND HAPPY NEW YEAR!!

10 Back-To-School Spices & Herbs for Lunchboxes

Looking for inspiration to make the kids' lunchboxes more interesting and varied? Want to start introducing your kids to spices in their meals? Want to aid their digestion and boost the antioxidants in their meals?

We've put together just a handful of suggestions on how to incorporate spices more into your kids' diets and make their lunchboxes so delicious they'll come back empty every day!

Sandwich Spreads

• Pureed Avocado with garlic, salt and pepper
• Fruit chia jams with a hint of cardamom to ease digestion
• Hummus with cumin or even a more traditional Moroccan spice blend in it
• Pesto with some nigella seeds added into the mix

Snacks

• Peanut Butter mixed with some True Cinnamon with Apple Slices
• Fruit Salad with a Maple Syrup and Sweet Delight Spice Blend dressing
• Banana Bread using some aflatoxin free nutmeg

Drinks

• Flavoured Water with fresh Mint & Cucumber
• Mango smoothie with a hint of cardamom
• Fresh pressed Pineapple Juice with black pepper
• Orange juice mixed with a little ginger and nutmeg

There you have it.. at least 10 spices and herbs you can easily use to tasty up your children's lunchboxes!

Spicing it up with Juices

With the bounty of summer produce and fruits well on their way to stores and farmers markets, I have become obsessed with juicing. And not just obsessed with the act of juicing but the fact that I have another outlet for creating recipes and incorporating spices into them!

Juicing is a really good way to detox the body without depriving it of essential nutrients and always use organic produce. Here are just a few of the recipes I have been working with and some ideas on how to bring those digestive spices out to help clean out the system even more!

Beet, Carrot & Cumin (pictured)

1 medium beet, peeled

8 juicing carrots, peeled

2 mini cucumbers

1 tsp toasted cumin seeds (added at the end)

Carrot, Apple & Ginger

8 juicing carrots, peeled

4 red apples, peeled, cored and cut into pieces

2 celery stalks

2 rhubarb stalks

tiny piece of fresh ginger

Mango, Apple & Cardamom

2 Ataulfo or very ripe mangoes

4 apples

1 banana

1/2 tsp Coorg Bold Cardamom (add at the end)

Other spices that would go really well with any vegetable and/or fruit juice include:

Turmeric Powder

Black Pepper (try it with pineapple or orange)

Paprika (great with a green juice)

Nigella Seeds (if juicing squash or sweet potato)

The Spice for all Bellys: Asafoetida (Hing)

Do you end up avoiding foods that are good for you but give you gas?

 What if you could find a simple everyday ingredient that would allow you to digest these gas prone foods better?

Sometimes named the "Food of the Gods", this is the spice that every belly needs! Asafoetida (Hing) (pr. asa-fe-teeda) is traditionally used in Ayurveda and Indian sub-continent cuisine where the diet is predominantly lentil or bean based. Asafoetida is a resin that is extracted from a perennial herb plant. The resin dries to a dark red, brown colour and on its own is difficult to grate or ingest as it is so potent. It is, therefore, more commonly found and consumed in a compound form where the powdered asafoetida is mixed with wheat and gum arabic.

The hunt for a certified organic asafoetida which was suitable for celiacs was proving really difficult but with perseverance, research and development, we were ecstatic to finally source a very good version. It is gluten free, grain free and has a minimum of 30% asafoetida resin content, making a little go a long way!

HOW DO I USE IT?

If you've used asafoetida before, you will know that it has a sulphuric smell but don't let this put you off! As soon as you add it to your cooking, the smell and taste dissipates.

Our recommendation is that you always use about 1/4 tsp in any dish (doesn't have to be Indian!) that uses the following ingredients:

Beans

Lentils

Pulses

Brocolli

Cabbage

Brussel Sprouts

Asparagus

Starches like potatoes

It is also a great substitute for onions and garlic if you have none in the house!

WHAT ELSE IS IT GOOD FOR?

Apart from being heavily used as a digestive aid, Asafoetida is a proven anti-bacterial and thought to be excellent at fighting influenza and candida. In fact, scientists even found it really effective in fighting the H1N1 virus!