Ain’t nothing like a cold Coca-Cola Slurpee from the neighborhood gas station on a hot summer day–except perhaps the increased awareness of the dangers of high fructose corn syrup that comes with being an adult. Take a moment to mourn the naïveté of childhood and move on, ’cause the following drinks are slushy and refreshing and totally natural. You can serve them to your kids with none of that HFC guilt, or you can spike them with alcohol and serve alongside flatbread and salad at that outdoor dinner party you’ve always meant to throw. All you need is a little ice and some 80-degree weather.

Watermelon-Herb Slushy

• 4 cups fresh watermelon
• 1 cup frozen strawberries (or fresh strawberries + a handful of ice)
• small handful fresh basil

Add all ingredients into a blender and blitz until smooth. Serve immediately in chilled glasses. Makes about two servings.

Limonada de Coco (coconut limeade) 

I recently had the fantastic luck to travel to Cartagena, Colombia, and my friends and I found (and guzzled) these sweet-tart coconut limeades everywhere we went. They were possibly the most refreshing and delicious thing I’ve ever consumed. Oh, and did I mention that you can order them spiked with rum?

• 1 cup cream of coconut
• 2 1/2 cups ice
• 3 limes, juiced
• sugar to taste

Place all ingredients in a blender. I’d start out with 2 tablespoons of sugar and add more if the drink isn’t sweet enough. Blitz until smooth. Serve with a wedge of lime. Makes two servings.

Milky Tea Slushy

A strong, sweet, cooled cup of tea, some ice cubes, and a splash of milk makes a Frappuccino-esque tea slushy that’ll cool you down and rev you up at the same time. To get an extra-strong cup, use two teabags per cup of boiling water, and let it steep for a while. Use your favorite black tea.

• 1 cup extra-strong black tea (Earl Grey or chai are both delicious), cooled
• 2+ tablespoons sugar
• 1/4 cup milk (almond milk and coconut milk are also good here)
• 1 cup ice

Steep two of your favorite teabags in one cup of boiling water and allow to cool (pop it in the freezer if you’re in a rush). Stir in the sugar. Place all ingredients in the blender and blend until smooth. Add more sugar or milk if it’s not sweet/creamy enough. Serve with a sprinkle of cinnamon on top.

photo attribute: www.kansasstatefair.com

We instinctively edit our fruits and vegetables. We de-seed our bell peppers and we peel our cucumbers. We pluck the green tops off our strawberries and we cut the tough stalks from our heads of broccoli. And it makes sense: not only do clean-up veggies make our salads look better, but  it’s just more convenient to eat them that way. Tough cucumber skins? Not so tasty.

However, peels are good for you. Like, really good. And it’s a shame to miss out on all that nutrition for the sake of aesthetics. They’re often the most brightly-colored part of the produce, and as we all know by now, bright colors = extra nutrients. And here’s the great thing about juicing–tough peels and annoying seeds are no longer a problem. You can push an entire plant through the juicer and all you’ll be getting out the other end is easy-to-drink juice. Plus, you’re drastically cutting down on the amount of waste that juicing creates, and we all know that’s a good thing.

Now, this isn’t to say that the flesh of fruits and vegetables isn’t nutritious, or that all peels are healthier than the flesh. But as a general rule, bright-colored fruit and vegetable peels should be juiced. They contain nutrients like contain carotenoids, flavonoids, and/or belatins–the pigments that give the produce its bright color.

Some examples? Citrus peels, just like the juice, have a lot of antioxidants. Banana peels are a great source of seratonin–a mood-booster! Broccoli stalks are higher in calium and vitamin C than the florets. Hairy little kiwis have antioxidants in the skin, and most of the flavonoids in apples (which come from a pigment called quercetin) reside in the skin. The tough core of the pineapple contains a fantastic digestive enzyme called bromelain. Eggplant peel–it’s a thousand times more colorful than the flesh, which should be setting off a brightly-hued bell in your head–contain a potent antioxidant called nasunin that protects cell membranes from damage. And so on and so forth.

But here’s the most important thing to remember when sending all those nutrient-packed skins through the juicer: buy organic! You don’t want your antioxidants served up with a side of pesticides, so spring for the natural stuff. If organic is totally out of your price range, then wash your produce extremely well–perhaps with a special fruit and vegetable wash–to get rid of the waxy coating and other chemicals that may be lurking on the peel.

photo attribute: sirgy.com

One of the biggest complaints I hear about juicing, making green smoothies, or healthy lifestyles in general is that it’s time-consuming. And yeah, I get it. Time is money, and activities that involve a lot of moving parts tend to be annoying. However, there are ways to whip up juices and green smoothies that won’t take all morning, and if you can figure out a quick routine that works for you, you’ll be much more likely to juice. Then, in no time at all, the new, healthier you will be speeding around town getting everything done twice as fast.

1. Juicing ≠ McDonald’s drive-through.

First of all, resign yourself to the fact that juicing is going to take some time. Fast food will always be quicker. That’s okay—you’re not looking for a carton of fries anyway.

2. In a pinch, use pre-prepared veggies.

If you’re having an extra-hectic week (or year, for that matter) but still need to get your juicing in, don’t guilt yourself for buying pre-prepared veggies. They’ll shoot through the juicer in no time, and all you’ll have left is cleanup (I’ll get to that part in a second). Snag a package of cut and washed kale, baby carrots, and pre-cut fruit. Buy organic so you don’t have to feel guilty for not giving them a second wash.

3. Or be super-responsible and prep your veggies after the grocery store.

You know, wash and cut your vegetables into neat little sticks, clean your fruit, and prepare everything to be run through the juicer. It’s the adult thing to do.

4. Juice with the skins on.

This is a whole ‘nother post for a different day, but right now, let me just say this: in bright-colored fruits and vegetables, that’s where the majority of the nutrients reside. Plus, it saves time–no peeling required.

5. Get a workable clean-up system going.

My old roommate had the perfect cleaning tool for her Champion juicer. It was a long, oval-shaped scrub brush, and it fit perfectly through all the Champion’s parts, making cleanup a total breeze. A bit of advice: buy whatever sponge or scrubber you need to make cleaning your juicer reeeeally really easy. I recommend filling up a mixing bowl with hot soapy water, dumping the juicer parts in there, scrubbing off the pulp, a quick rinse, and you’re done. I can do it in two minutes tops. Can you?

If you spend endless amounts of time on the Internet like I do, then you’ve probably come across various stories and videos of people taking the “Cinnamon Challenge.”

Essentially, it involves attempting to swallow a tablespoon of ground cinnamon from a spoon. Sounds easy enough, right? WRONG. Cinnamon is pulverized bark–and while extremely flavorful, it’s also nearly waterproof. When a waterproof powder comes in contact with your saliva-filled mouth, disaster then sues (and for some – hilarity). The challenger usually violently coughs up a dark plume of cinnamon dust, their eyes water, and a video account of the ordeal ends up on YouTube.

While cinnamon is pretty much harmless, the “Cinnamon Challenge” has sent at least 50 people to the hospital this year (the majority of the victims are teenagers… are we surprised?!). Because pulverized bark is caustic to our lungs and bronchial tubes, taking this challenge can result in choking, irritation and even a collapsed lung. No bueno.

I love cinnamon and as a novice foodie and health nut, I’m a big fan of this spice and all of its benefits for the bod. Perhaps most miraculously, cinnamon has been proven to help Type 2 diabetics control their blood sugar levels. In our modern era of obesity, SAD (standard American diets), and overall poor health, Type 2 diabetes is a huge issue that affects millions per year and costs our healthcare system billions of dollars. While more research is required to determine the scope of its effectiveness, if cinnamon can help even in a marginal way, it’s worth adding into your diet before the onset of disease.

Personally, Type 1 diabetes (oftentimes called Juvenile diabetes) is prevalent in my family, so I’ve always been a huge advocate for any type of homeopathic remedies to help the disease (to be clear, Type 1 diabetics like my brother require insulin to stay both alive and healthy and supplemental, dietary treatment is just that… supplemental). I generally try to get at least a tablespoon of cinnamon in my diet per week–and no, I’ve never taken the “Cinnamon Challenge.” Rather, I prefer to blend up this aromatic and fragrant spice into a smoothie that is both healthy, filling and tastes a little bit like dessert.

Check out the recipe below and see how easy it is to be a cinnamon gal or guy.

Cinnamon Smoothie

It’s preferable to blast the eponymous Neil Young song while making… just a suggestion

• 2 frozen bananas
• 1 cup coconut milk vanilla ice cream
• Dash of pure vanilla extract
• 1 tablespoon of almond butter
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• Almond milk – for consistency
• Toasted coconut flakes as garnish (optional)

Blend up all of the ingredients in your blender, adding additional almond milk to reach your desired consistency. Sprinkle with additional cinnamon and toasted coconut flakes on top. Grab a straw and drink up! No challenge required here.

Photo credit: www.healthland.time.com

I’m dog-sitting my cousin’s rescue pup Bluto (yes, he’s named after the famous character from Animal House) and I got to thinking about the treats I was feeding him. A quick review of the ingredients on the package, and I was disappointed to see big words and by-products that I didn’t recognize. Sure, he gobbles them up happily (leaving a trail of drool behind… Bluto hasn’t quite mastered the mechanics of his excessive jowls), but I wanted to try something else…

If juicing is good for people, it has to be healthy for dogs too, right? After a bit of research, it turns out my hunch was right. Generally speaking, dogs will do best with pulp–but a few warnings should be heeded. For starters, dogs don’t generally like wet pulp on its own. Don’t believe me? Try scooping a heap of carrot pulp on top of your dog’s dry food. If they’re anything like Bluto, they’ll manage to eat around the pulp–a feat that never ceases to amaze me. Seriously, this dog will eat napkins out of the garbage can but turns his nose up to carrots. It’s baffling. And since juicing is an expensive, albeit enormously beneficial endeavor, I don’t suggest pouring kale juice into your dog’s water bowl and expecting him to lap it up graciously. Not gonna happen.

So just like my carrot pulp cookies recipe, use your pulp to create nutritious doggy snacks! The best part about this recipe is that they’re easy and don’t require much pre-planning.

First, just be sure to take a quick look at this “doggy danger” list below and don’t include any ingredients from it as they are toxic to our four-legged friends.

Doggy Danger Foods

• Chocolate
• Coffee
• Onions
• Garlic
• Grapes and Raisins
• Macadamia Nuts
• Mushrooms

Bluto’s Happy Puppy Pulp Treats

• 3-4 cups of pulp (it seems that orange-colored veggies are most desirable to Bluto but I’m going to try mixing in spinach and celery next time)
• 1 cup oats
• ½ cup organic peanut butter (non-organic peanuts are kind of a nightmare, I’ll address in a future post, but trust me on this one)
• ¼ cup ground flax seeds
• 1 tablespoon chia seeds (optional)

Preheat your oven to 300 degrees.

Mush all of the ingredients together with your hands and roll into 1-inch discs – it’s easier if you coat your hands in olive oil first. Place on a cookie sheet and bake for an hour or two (depending on how chewy your pets likes his/her treats), flipping over halfway through. Allow to fully cool and store in a mason jar or plastic bag.