Water is everywhere- it's in our homes, it's in our backpacks, it's in our foods. But did you know that it's also a new way to supplement your every day life?
While I was at the Food Allergy Bloggers Conference a few months ago, I found a bottle of Banana Water in my swag bag (the swag bag is a glorious gift that attendees get full of goodies from the vendors that we binge eat at night in our rooms). Upon waking up the first morning in the Colorado altitude I grabbed it, thinking it would be something like a shake. To my surprise, the Banana Water was not thick, not shake-like but more like a flavored water or a watered-down juice. I am not a juice person- I have never liked anything too sweet or too sugary and the fact that one of these bottles contains the
same amount of potassium as two bananas (which, are also not one of my favorite foods...a bit slimy, eww) I realized that this was something that I had to look into further.
Honesty First A large part of what I do with allergy-friendly foods, recipes and food allergy consultations is to show others that relearning how to use the foods that are safe is crucial. Most of us get so overwhelmed about all of the foods that we cannot eat but in truth, food allergies are a life event, a new journey- a beginning to expand our foods in ways that we would never even have thought to use them before. So when I began to read the reviews about Banana Water, I was at first horrified. Then my #KitchenGeek brain stepped in and felt a need to show all of these people that they weren't doing it right, not at all! Just because a beverage is a beverage does NOT mean it's only for opening and drinking. It's about using the potential of the product to boost your current foods as well as to make them just as delicious....sort of like pureeing vegetables and adding it into foods to hide from the kids only better.
Soak It This is simple logic if you think about it- Banana Water is a liquid. Why not replace water or milk in a typical recipe that you enjoy every day? One of the major complaints that I hear from people a lot is that they don't know what to eat....eat what you normally eat but with new ingredients. One of the most delicious ways that I used my Banana Water was to make soaked oatmeal. Not sure how it's done? Simply combine uncooked oats, spices (I use cinnamon, allspice, raw honey and coconut oil) and add enough Banana Water to the mixture to make it "soupy". Cover and refrigerate overnight. In the morning, just heat and eat. You can also add coconut chips, seeds, fruit, oil or a healthy protein spread (SunButter is a great one). This starts your day out with a warm, satisfying meal that's loaded with healthy proteins as well as potassium, vitamin c and magnesium. Best of all- it's simple. When it comes to food allergies,we all like simple. Heck- anyone with or without food allergies likes simplicity. To be able to sneak all of the other great components into a brain-boosting meal is like multitasking for your health, mentally and physically.
Sip It It seems that we are very much a society that likes to sip- we meet for coffee, we have warm beverages on a chilly day and we enjoy a refreshing drink when we are parched. Making sure we keep ourselves hydrated is also essential for our metabolism and keeps everything moving along in our digestive system. I began to heat up water for my morning tea and then it occurred to me- Banana Water! I mixed half water and half Banana Water and let my tea bag steep. The result? A delicious flavored tea that I would love to try as an iced tea when the warmer weather comes back around. And, not to repeat myself but I transformed my tea into a power tea (yay me!).
Stir It Many of us are salad dressing lovers. If you are like me, you are always, always reading the labels for possible allergens as well as other ingredient counts on the bottle. Sadly, there are very many people that don't make their own dressing (eh-hem) Hand-raised, me being one of them. Or should I say, I am still trying to break old habits and routines. How long can you remember going to the store and purchasing salad dressing? Even if it's a great, allergy-friendly brand the cost versus making it is truly comparable. And with two ever-hungry children and being at home during a snow storm, both my budget and supplies were dwindling. There was ice on the ground, there was lettuce but there was no dressing....until, my eye spied the Banana Water containers sitting on my counter, staring at me. I felt like The Grinch, getting his evil grinchy smile but within five minutes, I had a very tasty salad dressing.
Passion Fruit Dressing
6 Ounces Passion Fruit Banana Water
3 Tablespoons olive oil (I use Winona Pure Oil)
3 Tablespoons apple cider vinegar
2 Tablespoons raw honey
1 Teaspoon ground coriander
2 Teaspoons sea salt
Gather all of your ingredients and combine them in a blender. Blend until smooth and refrigerate until ready to use. Stirring or shaking may be necessary prior to each use as the ingredients may naturally settle or separate.
Sizzle It This is actually a double-recipe idea that popped into my head and I figured I would just wing it (there is a pun....just wait for it).
Chicken Vinaigrette
1 Package chicken
8 Ounces Passion Fruit Dressing (divided)
Oil oil (I use Winona Pure Oil)
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Rinse the chicken and set it aside. Prepare a shallow glass casserole dish by spraying it lightly with oil. Place the chicken into the prepared dish and drizzle it with 4 ounces of Passion Fruit Dressing. Cover with foil and bake for 40 minutes, or until no pink remains, turning once.
Remove from the chicken from the dish and set it aside. Add the remaining Passion Fruit dressing to the casserole dish. Using a whisk, combine the drippings from the dish and the dressing. Spoon over the chicken and serve.
Share Your Water Now that I have shared just a few of my recipe ideas for Banana Water, I challenge all of you to do the same. Let's see how many recipe ideas we can share together. By sharing, we will also be helping each other out with new recipe and menu ideas (which, honestly, even I could always use). Together, we will make all of those previous people who commented eat their words, literally.
While I was at the Food Allergy Bloggers Conference a few months ago, I found a bottle of Banana Water in my swag bag (the swag bag is a glorious gift that attendees get full of goodies from the vendors that we binge eat at night in our rooms). Upon waking up the first morning in the Colorado altitude I grabbed it, thinking it would be something like a shake. To my surprise, the Banana Water was not thick, not shake-like but more like a flavored water or a watered-down juice. I am not a juice person- I have never liked anything too sweet or too sugary and the fact that one of these bottles contains the same amount of potassium as two bananas (which, are also not one of my favorite foods...a bit slimy, eww) I realized that this was something that I had to look into further.
Honesty First A large part of what I do with allergy-friendly foods, recipes and food allergy consultations is to show others that relearning how to use the foods that are safe is crucial. Most of us get so overwhelmed about all of the foods that we cannot eat but in truth, food allergies are a life event, a new journey- a beginning to expand our foods in ways that we would never even have thought to use them before. So when I began to read the reviews about Banana Water, I was at first horrified. Then my #KitchenGeek brain stepped in and felt a need to show all of these people that they weren't doing it right, not at all! Just because a beverage is a beverage does NOT mean it's only for opening and drinking. It's about using the potential of the product to boost your current foods as well as to make them just as delicious....sort of like pureeing vegetables and adding it into foods to hide from the kids only better.
Soak It This is simple logic if you think about it- Banana Water is a liquid. Why not replace water or milk in a typical recipe that you enjoy every day? One of the major complaints that I hear from people a lot is that they don't know what to eat....eat what you normally eat but with new ingredients. One of the most delicious ways that I used my Banana Water was to make soaked oatmeal. Not sure how it's done? Simply combine uncooked oats, spices (I use cinnamon, allspice, raw honey and coconut oil) and add enough Banana Water to the mixture to make it "soupy". Cover and refrigerate overnight. In the morning, just heat and eat. You can also add coconut chips, seeds, fruit, oil or a healthy protein spread (SunButter is a great one). This starts your day out with a warm, satisfying meal that's loaded with healthy proteins as well as potassium, vitamin c and magnesium. Best of all- it's simple. When it comes to food allergies,we all like simple. Heck- anyone with or without food allergies likes simplicity. To be able to sneak all of the other great components into a brain-boosting meal is like multitasking for your health, mentally and physically.
Sip It It seems that we are very much a society that likes to sip- we meet for coffee, we have warm beverages on a chilly day and we enjoy a refreshing drink when we are parched. Making sure we keep ourselves hydrated is also essential for our metabolism and keeps everything moving along in our digestive system. I began to heat up water for my morning tea and then it occurred to me- Banana Water! I mixed half water and half Banana Water and let my tea bag steep. The result? A delicious flavored tea that I would love to try as an iced tea when the warmer weather comes back around. And, not to repeat myself but I transformed my tea into a power tea (yay me!). |
| Click for the recipe NOW~ |
Passion Fruit Dressing
6 Ounces Passion Fruit Banana Water
3 Tablespoons olive oil (I use Winona Pure Oil)
3 Tablespoons apple cider vinegar
2 Tablespoons raw honey
1 Teaspoon ground coriander
2 Teaspoons sea salt
Gather all of your ingredients and combine them in a blender. Blend until smooth and refrigerate until ready to use. Stirring or shaking may be necessary prior to each use as the ingredients may naturally settle or separate.
Sizzle It This is actually a double-recipe idea that popped into my head and I figured I would just wing it (there is a pun....just wait for it).
Chicken Vinaigrette
 |
| Download and prepare it now- HERE |
8 Ounces Passion Fruit Dressing (divided)
Oil oil (I use Winona Pure Oil)
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Rinse the chicken and set it aside. Prepare a shallow glass casserole dish by spraying it lightly with oil. Place the chicken into the prepared dish and drizzle it with 4 ounces of Passion Fruit Dressing. Cover with foil and bake for 40 minutes, or until no pink remains, turning once.
Remove from the chicken from the dish and set it aside. Add the remaining Passion Fruit dressing to the casserole dish. Using a whisk, combine the drippings from the dish and the dressing. Spoon over the chicken and serve.
Share Your Water Now that I have shared just a few of my recipe ideas for Banana Water, I challenge all of you to do the same. Let's see how many recipe ideas we can share together. By sharing, we will also be helping each other out with new recipe and menu ideas (which, honestly, even I could always use). Together, we will make all of those previous people who commented eat their words, literally.
Show me how you think outside of the Banana Water bottle ;)
These are some seriously great ideas! I wasn't too keen on the idea of banana water (I'm a plain water girl), but now I'm intrigued.
ReplyDeleteThanks Alisa! As a #KitchenGeek, I think one of my newest favorite things to do is to take an allergy-friendly product and really try to show others how flexible they can be to enhance our menu options :)
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