With a lot of iterations and failures and eventual success (with my kids as judges of course), I present to you two recipes to easily ramp up the anti-inflammatory quotient in your child.
In my previous blog, we talked about chronic inflammation being the root cause of widespread disease and dysfunction in our children, including conditions like ADHD, Eczema, and Asthma. IF you haven’t read that, do take a quick detour here.
Among the simplest interventions I have tried, in my quest to amp down inflammation is a superfood-filled night time drink. It is tasty, kids love it, and I usually dose just 2 superfoods at a time.
Recipe 1: Skin and Gut friendly Hot Cocoa
This recipe is great for healing your child’s skin and gut. It uses cacao (which is the raw unprocessed form of cocoa, and very rich in antioxidants). Cacao, a rich source of tryptophan is also great to help your child’s anxiety and sleep.
The other two superfoods are 1) Rice Tocotrienols, a great natural food source of vitamins, minerals and the skin-healing Vitamin E; and 2) Marine Collagen Protein: an excellent source of amino acids that help heal the gut lining (and skin lining).
Marine Collagen is an animal food, sourced from fish, but tasteless and odorless. Feel free to drop it if you are strictly vegetarian.
Ingredients:
1 cup almond or macadamia milk
(Note: I soak 5 -6 almonds the previous night of morning and make my own almond milk with 1 cup of water)
1 date
1/2 tbsp raw cacao powder, now available in Costco!
Challenge: Try introducing 1″ Cinnamon / 1″ piece off Star Anise
Pinch Sea Salt
Heat the Almond Milk to your desired temperature. Blend in a high-speed blender preferably, but really any blender will be fine (you may need to soak the dates with a weaker blender).
Recipe 2: Calming and Anxiety Reducing Hot Cocoa
We continue to use anxiety-lowering and kid-favorite raw cacao here. But the super foods are different: Maca, an ancient Peruvian superfood used for energy and stamina (both mental and physical), and Ashwagandha, a similar adaptogen, used for thousands of years in the Ayurvedic Tradition.
Ingredients:
1 cup almond or macadamia milk
(Note: I soak 5 -6 almonds the previous night of morning and make my own almond milk with 1 cup of water)
These words don’t often apply to waffles. I have seen pancakes, crepes, cakes even. But it seemed like waffles were never allowed to enter this sacred space.
My son has been for several years on a gluten free, dairy free and egg free diet due to food sensitivities. And he loves waffles, and I love waffles.
To say our earlier attempts resembled cardboard, I am afraid, would be insulting to cardboard. After months of trialing flour after flour, it was a completely random attempt that succeeded, and succeeded like crazy!
This recipe is almost paleo, though legumes aren’t often considered strictly paleo, and are the stars of this recipe.
If extraordinary waffles are the reason you haven’t hit an allergy elimination diet yet, look no further! Here’s your super anti-inflammatory waffle with a dose of optional protein
Recipe:
1 cup Cassava Flour
1 cup Garbanzo Fava Flour (this is a mix of garbanzo and fava bean flours, and is available as such in health food stores or Amazon)
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp sea salt
1/8 tsp cream of tartar (optional, I haven’t figured out what its role is yet, just seems to give a crispier texture so far)
2 tsp vanilla extract
1.5 tbsp Maple Syrup
1 tpsp Olive Oil
1 scoop Marine Collagen (optional, to up your protein content if you want)
Water or Almond Milk
A Waffle Iron (not Belgian Waffle Iron): this is really important . This recipe will not work with a Belgian Waffle Iron, only with a simple (regular?) one.
Well, at this time, mix the dry ingredients well. Add the wet ingredients, and just mix with a spatula until well mixed and the consistency of thick pancake batter. This is also important. Too thin and this recipe won’t work. Remember, we don’t have eggs!
Oil your Waffle Iron (with ghee or avocado oil), let it heat and get it ready for waffling (Green LIght and all that).
Pour Waffle, Wait for green light again, Remove Waffle! That’s it!
Note: That’s what my waffles look like 🙂 But this picture isn’t mine! Pic Credit: Adobe Stock
I have scoured the world of vegan “milks” to try and make a chai that I could tolerate. I didn’t even dare hope for a chai that I would LOVE! There are two “milks” that have brought me hope again: Macadamia nut milk and Almond Milk (but only from Thrive Market, and only the Thrive Market brand, likely because it doesn’t have fillers or gums or added vitamins).
½ tsp grated ginger
½ of a cardamom (crushed in a mortar and pestle or anywhere)
½ cup water
½ cup macadamia nut milk (Thrive Market Almond Milk works in this too)
Organic CTC Assam tea (I always use Organic CTC tea)
-Don’t use whole leaf tea, that is not for chai.
-Tea is one of the plants that is cultivated with tons of pesticides, so organic is a good idea.
Method:
Boil the water with the ginger and cardamom.
Add 1.5 tsp of the CTC Assam tea and lower to a simmer for 2-3 minutes.
*Real Chai drinkers don’t add cinnamon. Cloves: mayyyy be, not cinnamon. Don’t get me wrong, I love cinnamon, it is pretty close to a super spice! But just not in chai.*
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Well, at this time, mix the dry ingredients well. Add the wet ingredients, and just mix with a spatula until well mixed and the consistency of thick pancake batter. This is also important. Too thin and this recipe won’t work. Remember, we don’t have eggs!
