Organic Acai Extract and a Recipe for Churros

I am always looking out for ways to  eat healthy and keep our active lifestyle but you know we have our weaknesses too.  We sometimes   go out and buy not-so-healthy  foods like donuts or cookies but it is not really a regular things.  We call them treats because we seldom have them.  Okay, enough of being defensive of my  ways lol.  But anyway, I  was skeptical to try this Organic Acai Extract  but I have read so many good things about it so I said yes when I was approached and asked to review it.

As it turned out, I liked it! Acai berries  is known for its  antioxidants content and it is alsorich in fiber and heart-healthy fats. According to what I read onlune, acai  may have more antioxidant content than other commonly eaten berries, such as cranberries, blueberries and strawberries.   BUt I won't know  how it does to my body unless I try them right?  So here we go, here are some of the things I used the Acai Extract so far.  

I made a pint of  milkshake  and almond the other day.  I only added a teaspoon of acai extract just to try it and  see how it tastes like.  It did not really affect the taste of my milkshake so I was happy with that. 

Here's an information about Acai from Nature Restore's Amazon page

The Acai berry is grown in the Amazon rainforest and has only been on the market for about 5 years. The berry has been around for thousands of years but it wasn't until the 1990s that it became popular to the western world. Acai is naturally full of energy, it has a strong berry taste with a little hint of chocolate. It is also high in proteins, fiber, Vitamin E, minerals and essential Omega oils.

Acai berry contains a higher concentration of compounds known as anthocyanins. These compounds are the ones thought to be responsible for giving red wine its widely reported health benefits. However, the Acai berry has 10 to 30 times more anthocyanins than red wine does. Acai contains high omega fatty acids, and studies have shown that high omega fatty acids can lead to lowering bad cholesterol levels (LDL) and maintaining natural HDL cholesterol levels. The antioxidant benefits of the Acai berry, combined with the fatty acids it contains, make this one of the most important superfoods on the market. You can use Nature Restore Acai  by easily adding one or two teaspoons added to water, juice, smoothie etc. Another easy way to use the Acai powder is to sprinkle it on foods such as yogurt or cottage cheese.

Then I made some churros for dessert and also put half a teaspopon of  acai extract.   I know churros is not very healthy because you have to fry it but I have never  made churros before so it is a perfect time to experiment.  Here is the recipe for my

Gluten-free Minibite Churros
Ingredients

• 2 cups water 
• 5 tablespoons white sugar
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 4 tablespoons vegetable oil 
• 2 cup gluten-free  flour 
• 2 quarts oil for frying
• 1 cup white sugar, or to taste
• 1 teaspoon acai extract

For coating churros after it's fried

• 2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/2 cup sugar

Procedure:

• In a small saucepan over medium heat, combine water, sugar, salt and  tablespoons vegetable oil. Bring to a boil and remove from heat. Stir in flour and acai extract until mixture forms a ball.

• Combine 1/2 cup sugar and cinnamon. Roll drained churros in cinnamon and sugar mixture.

• Heat oil for frying in deep-fryer or deep skillet to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). Pipe strips   (I used ziploc bag since I don't have a piping bag)of dough into hot oil using a pastry bag. Fry until golden; drain on paper towels.

The churros was a hit.  I didn't think they would like it but theey did.  My son is  asking me to make it again.

Here's another yummy treat that I made with acai extract.  I did not have  bananas yesterday so I used the banana flavored popsicle  and combined it with  a  glass of milk and a teaspoon of acai extract.

It was a refreshing lunch break snack  with some almond.

Here's another yummy treat, an energy shake with a bottle of boost, one banana, ice cubes, and a teaspoon of acai extract.

#Tasty #treat after my morning walk. #BananaShake .. Ingredients includes a bottle of boost balanced nutritional drink, a teaspoon of #acai #extract , a #banana and ice cubes. #yum !!!

A photo posted by rose (@chubskulitrose) on Nov 2, 2015 at 6:04am PST

If you are looking for some great organic extract like acai,  moringa, kale, beet or  any other healthy supplements, check out naturerestore.com.  They have a great selection of it.  Thanks Nature REstore for the Acai, I am loving it!

Disclosure: The owner of this blog was NOT financially compensated to write this review.  I was provided with the product/s mentioned  to help me  facilitate this review but  opinions are my own

New GreenEarth Salad Spinner and Ecozeri Frying Pan #ProductReview

I never really had an interest in cooking until I got married.  I always  heard married omen that say "The secret way to a man's heart is through his stomach"  so that stuck with me.  I started  exploring what I can do in the kitchen and I couldn't be happier with what I found  few years later.  I never thought that cooking is not as hard as I thought.  I am not the best cook there is but  my  husband and kids appreciate my cooking so that's what  it matters..

Anyway, I  would like to share with you these two kitchen  tools that I got from Ozeri to review this month.  A new salad spinner and an 8" Ecozeri Green earth frying pan.  I've had the other kind of  Ozero pan before and  it lasted for a log period  of time.  But just like  anything else, no matter how  good  it is, it will eventually wore out.  So glad that I have this new frying pan which my daughter called "her Pan" because it is small.  What I like about this is the comfortable heat-resistant feature of the bake light handle.  Unlike the  other pan that I got, I  am confident of putting this in the oven because of its magnetized induction stove safe base for rapid heat transfer

I am always excited to use  new  gadgets/tools in the kitchen so I  tested it right away when it arrived.  I used this Frying Pan to cook our dinner last weekend.  I cooked some chicken thigh that I seasoned with with ancho chili and coffee rub and some rosemary.

I pan fried it in  one tablespoon coconut oil  for  ten minutes each side and finish it up in the oven  for  another  10 minutes.

Chicken and salad always  go hand in hand in my household so I also made  a veggie salad just so I could try the Salad Spinner.  This is designed in Switzerland to deliver frictionless spin action with an instant stop button.  I have another salad spinner but it doesn't have a stop button so that feature is way cool.  The removable colander and bowl is quite neat too.

Of course I can't try a thing in my kitchen without my  curious George wanting to help.  Anything that spins, he love to try so I let him clean the veggies.

You can get  any of these products through amazon.  The pan is $25.95 and the salad spinner is a couple of dollars more of the pan's price.  

We had a really yummy dinner that night.  Thanks again Ozeri for making my  cooking experience a lot better with your kitchen  tools!

Disclosure: The owner of this blog was NOT financially compensated to write this review.  I was provided with the product/s mentioned  to help me  facilitate this review but  opinions are my own.

Heavy Duty BBQ Grill Tools Set @CaveTools #ProductReview

I can't believe how drastic the weather have changed in the past couple of weeks.  We woke up to a 28 degrees this morning and it was freezing!  My  hands were numb and painful when I went for my  morning walk.  Anyway, to warm  our  cold topic up, let's talk about grilling!  Yeah, I know, I can't grill outside anymore because it is freezing.  We covered our grill last week and won't be able to use it until next summer.  However, I am so glad to have  this BBQ Grill Tools set that Cavetools sent me for review.  I may not be able to  use it for now but it will certainly be put to use next year.

The set includes a spatula, an oversized tongs, and meat carving fork.  All of these are heavy duty and the  has very elegant design so if you love to entertain, these are tools that would wow  guests.  The tongs clamp shuts  for easy storage .  If you notice, the spatula has a bottle opener which makes it a versatile grilling tool for  those who love to sip beer while grilling  steak.  This would be a great  spatula for them as it will keep them "hydrated"  while working on a hot environment.  I also love that it has serrated edge because  it makes it easier to flip a steak just in case the meat  stick to the grill.  

I love that each tool has an extra wide hanging hooks although I don't normally  hang my utensils but it's nice that  these are designed like this because someday, we might be able to afford to  upgrade our  outdated kitchen and  design it the way I want it  it to function for our needs.

Since I can' grill outside anymore, I just borrowed this photo from Cavetools website to show how the tongs can handle any size of meat when grilling.  

As usual, these are  dishwasher safe which makes it nice for those who doesn't like  manual dish washing.  You can get this for $28.99, a 35% savings from its original price of $45.  The best part of this is, when you buy the set, you also get their BBQ recipe book with 25 professional recipes for the family - Sauces, ribs, chicken, kabobs, and more.  This would  be a great gift this coming  Christmas for your love ones who love to grill!  Anyway, you can get this  via Amazon, you can use this code FWOBWJHP for a 15% discount.

Disclosure: The owner of this blog was NOT financially compensated to write this review.  I was provided with the product/s mentioned  to help me  facilitate this review but  opinions are my own.

Turkey MeatLoaf

My husband texted me yesterday that he was craving for some meatloaf so I looked for  recipes online and found this one at allrecipes.com.  I did however put my own spin on  it depending on what I have available in my fridge/pantry.  I replaced the  ground beeg with  turkey and also replaced the  bread crumbs with  gluten-free prezel crisps that I ground up.   So here it is.

Ingredients:

• 1 lb ground turkey 
• 1 egg 
• 1 onion, chopped 
• 1 cup milk 
•  1 cup ground gluten-free pretzel crisps
•  salt and pepper to taste 
• 2 tablespoons brown sugar 
•  2 tablespoons yellow mustard
• 1/3 cup ketchup
• 1 shredded carrots

Preparation:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). 
• In a large bowl, combine the turkey, egg, onion, milk, carrots,  and pretzel crisp crumbs. 
• Season with salt and pepper and place in a lightly greased 5x9 inch loaf pan, or form into a loaf and place in a lightly greased 9x13 inch baking dish. 
• In a separate small bowl, combine the brown sugar, mustard and ketchup. Mix well and pour over the meatloaf. 
• Bake at 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) for 1 hour.

We ate it with rice and  some fresh carrot slaw.  It was not as hardy as  ground beef would be  but it was equally delicious!

Celiac Awareness Month: Say Goodbye to Gluten

October is CELIAC Awareness month. We don't have  one in the family with Celiac  disease but  it's great to cut down on gluten  to prevent the said  health issue.    To help us raise awareness, Glutino sent us some great goodies  which my  family have learned to love ever since we started   consuming gluten-free  products.  If you or someone you know  is  suffering from celiac disease and  would love  a great choices of  gluten-free products,  Glutino  has it.  From baked goodies to pizza and pie   mixes,  you name it, they have it all.  They can   help you say goodbye to gluten forever.

 I mentioned over and over again that my kids love their cookies.  Mind you, my daughter does not like Oreo cookies but she love this  chocolate vanilla creme from  Glutino.  My son on the other hand  love the vanilla creme more than the chocolate vanilla one.  I always put them  at their lunchboxes for dessert at school.

My husband love these  toaster pastries.  I put one of these in his lunch to work and his sweet tooth is served!  This is the first time we tried the frosted  ones  and my husband said that it is a lot better than the plain ones.  

I baked this  chocolate chip banana cookies when my kids were screaming for some sweets.  I love  the bananas in it because it smells so delicious when I was baking them.  It add more flavor to it as well.

My sister-in-law told me once that the Cottrill clan   has naturally born with sweet tooth so when they get grumpy when they  are craving for some sweets.  Glad to have this  easy to bake mixes because I get to bake them for my kids when they are grumpy and  looking for some sweet treat.  You can check out the recipe for this yummy double chocolate brownies with walnuts and coconut that I baked for them.

Last but not the least is the tortilla dippers which is great for after-school snacks for the kids and for Mommy too!

It's great to eat  as ease  or eat it with soup.  It's even great to dip it in my homemade carrot slaw.  I love making  carrot slaw when I first harvest them from the garden because it smells and tastes so good.

You want some more gluten-free dishes, here's the Turkey Meatloaf that I made yesterday.  I substituted the  bread crumbs with  Glutino's pretzel crisp, that I ground up.  

Disclosure: The owner of this blog was NOT financially compensated to write this review.  I was provided with the products mentioned  in exchange of my honest  opinion which may differ from yours.  

Gluten-Free Chocolate Chip Banana Cookies

If you want some chewy deliciousness, this Chocolate Chip Cookie mix from Glutino is the way to go.  To add more healthy flavor to it, I  added one banana to the mix and it was divine.  I am not fond of baking from scratch so mixes like this makes it very easy for me to bake delicious treats for my family.  Glutino makes it really easy to bake  yummy goodness, all you add is butter and egg and you are good to go.  

For this, I won't  write down the recipe since you just basically follow the simple direction at the box and put your little twist on it and you are onyour way to the oven.

 I really love the chunks of banans in it.  It really complemented the  chocolate chips and the smell is  delicious wqhen you take it out from the oven.

 We asll enjoyed this  homebaked cookies.  I even packed my husband some for his lunch to eat as a snack during his break time.

 I don't eat too much cookies but this one is an exemption because I  baked it and I know what's in it.