Immune Boosting Smoothie

It's important to keep your immune system strong, especially during cold and flu season! Life is too busy to get slowed down by sickness, so do everything to keep your body as strong as possible. What we put into our bodies matters, especially if we want to keep our immune system strong. When sickness is upon us, sometimes our  appetites vanish, which makes it hard to get the nutrients we need for our bodies to heal. Smoothies are a great way to get nutrients when sick with no appetite!

The smoothie I just made has lots of beneficial fruits and vegetables in it to promote healing. I added strawberries, raspberries, mango, kale, and pure orange juice. 

• Berries are very high in antioxidants, Vitamin C and B.
• Mangoes are high in vitamin A and C.
• Kale has protein, Alpha-linolenic acid (which is an omega-3 fatty acid), and Vitamins A, C, K.

Most people know that vitamin C is important when you are sick, but there are lots of other vitamins that are important. 

Here is a list of important  vitamin rich foods !

PB banana cookies

All this snow has been making me a bit stir crazy, so when I was trapped in the house yesterday I decided to raid my cabinet and see if I could bake anything. I found a recipe online but modified it to make it vegan and healthier. The recipe online said to add a full cup of sugar, however the peanut butter I use already has some added sugar so I cut this amount in half. These Peanut butter banana chocolate chip cookies only have 7 ingredients are delicious!

• 1 cup of all natural peanut butter 
• 1 ripe banana
• 1/2 cup of brown sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• Chocolate chips 
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• Sprinkle of salt

Preheat the oven to 375.

 I blended all the ingredients in my nutribullet to get a nice smooth consistency. After everything is blended, add desired amount of chocolate chips. If you don't have a good processor, hand mash the bananas until smooth and mix the rest of the ingredients by hand. Scoop batter onto a cookie sheet and bake for 15-20 minutes, or until they start to brown around the edges.

For best results, let the cookies cool. They taste best if put in the fridge over night and eaten the next day! 

Peanut butter is very high in protein and bananas have tons of health benefits. Check this link out to see all the amazing benefits of bananas ! I used the banana instead of an egg for flavor and to make the cookies vegan! Bananas can be a great egg substitute.