Hello friends! With Valentine's Day just around the corner, I am here to offer up a special recipe for you and your sweetie that checks allllll the boxes:
- sweet but not overly so
- made with real, whole food ingredients
- pretty to look at
- easy to make (if you have a decent blender)
- deliciously rich & satisfying, meaning you won't feel the need to polish off the whole batch (but if you did I wouldn't judge)
- contains chocolate
- full of healthy fats
- anti-oxidant rich
- hormone-balancing
- blood-sugar stabilizing
- fertility-friendly!
- hand made with Love
Now, how many other sweet treats can boast so many benefits? Truth be told, these babies aren't just for Valentine's Day - they are an excellent choice for a snack or sweet treat any time of year.
Friends, I present you with BERRY BEET BOMBS! If you're a foodie, you've probably heard of Fat Bombs, which are making their way around social media. Consuming healthy fats at every meal and snack is crucial to hormone balance and a central part of any fertility diet. Fat Bombs are handy for meeting your healthy fat targets for each day, and there are tons of recipe variations online, most of them involving nut butter, coconut oil, and chocolate :) While these ones do have some chocolate in the form of a sprinkling of raw cacao nibs, I wanted to create a Fat Bomb recipe that featured a few more fertility foods. Such as....
BEETS: Beetroot is a fantastic source of folate and iron, which are needed in order to support a healthy pregnancy and healthy baby. The sulphur in beets also aids the liver in detoxifying excess hormones from the body. The nitrates in beets convert into nitric oxide, which actually increases blood flow! And encouraging blood flow to the reproductive organs is important for nourishing fertility. Beets have an earthy flavour, which is masked in this recipe by the berries, lemon, and cashews.
BERRIES: I used a combo of strawberries, blackberries, and raspberries in this recipe. Berries are praised for their relatively low sugar content (compared to tropical fruits) and super high antioxidant power. This means that they protect reproductive organs from damage, and repair cellular oxidation. This is important, especially as we age, as eggs and sperm are both susceptible to oxidative damage. Blackberries and raspberries also contain ellagic acid, which stimulates the liver to clear out excess estrogen - particularly important for anyone who suffers from PMS symptoms.
COCONUT OIL: Unless you've been living under a rock for the past 5 years, I'm sure you're all well versed in the benefits of cooking with coconut oil. As a medium-chain triglyceride, the type of fat in coconut oil is not stored as body fat, but used as energy right away. I'll also remind you that your hormones are MADE OF FAT, so it is impossible to have balanced hormones without eating healthy fats daily. Fat is your friend! I used Silkeny Organic Coconut Oil in this recipe because as a Vista Magazine brand ambassador I was asked to try it out. I love it! There is a distinct coconut taste that lends a rich complexity to this recipe.
CASHEW NUTS: Aside from being sweet, creamy, fatty, and delicious, cashews are a source of zinc,
which is an important nutrient for fertility that most of us aren't getting enough of. If you've taken the birth control pill for any length of time, your zinc stores have likely been depleted. Zinc is an important component of egg production as well as hormone balance for women. And for men, sperm is made from zinc (partly) so it is a crucial mineral for both male & female fertility.
As you & your Love enjoy these Berry Beet Bombs this Valentine's Day, I encourage you to savour each bite and imagine your body responding to the flood of nutrients. Imagine your cells, tissues, and organs being supported, strengthened and nourished. Receive the nourishment with joy and gratitude and marvel at what an incredible gift it is to have access to real, powerful, medicinal foods! Just an idea ;)
BERRY BEET BOMBS
Ingredients:
3/4 cup coconut oil, melted
heaping 1/4 cup raw cashew nuts
1 Tablespoon pure maple syrup
1/4 cup grated raw beets
1/4 cup berries (I used frozen blackberries, strawberries, and raspberries)
Juice of half a lemon
Raw cacao nibs for garnish, optional
Directions:
1. Place cashews in a bowl and pour in enough water to cover by at least 1 inch. Loosely cover with a lean tea towel. Allow to soak for at least 2 hours, or overnight. If you don't have a high-powered blender like a vitamix, soak for 6-8 hours.
2. Strain and rinse cashews, then add to the blender with all the other ingredients except the raw cacao nibs. Blend until smooth. If it's not smooth enough, you may need to add some extra melted coconut oil. Add 1 Tablespoon at a time.
3. Pour into silicone muffin molds (or paper ones if you don't have silicone) about 1-2 inches deep. Sprinkle with a few raw cacao nibs, if desired.
4. Place in the freezer for at least 30 minutes to set. Pop them out of their molds and into a sealed glass container. Keep in the freezer or fridge if you prefer them a little softer. They will 'melt' at room temperature, so they don't make the best travel snacks. My favourite way to enjoy them is straight from the freezer, thawed for 5 minutes on the counter (if you can wait that long!) as an afternoon snack. But I've also been known to eat one with breakfast......I'll leave the 'eating' part up to you, friends!