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Hey, HealthNuts, welcome back to my channel.
My name is Nikole and today I'm gonna be doing
another what-I-eat-in-a-day video,
where I basically take you guys along for every day
and share with you all the delicious food
that I'm gonna be eating.
I already have a menu planned out today
and I'm so excited, especially for dinner,
it's something I've been wanting to make for a while.
And I just wanna talk about the importance
of really nourishing your body with healthy food.
I feel like everyone's eating patterns had been
all over the place, maybe you're ordering out more,
maybe you're just eating more junk food.
I'm with you, I definitely fell into
both of these categories,
but the last couple of weeks I've been really just
rethinking my food and getting back to the staples
of just eating really good wholesome food, eating healthy.
Salads, nourishing foods that are gonna make you feel good.
Especially when everyone's feeling
all the different feels right now,
food is super powerful and I look at food as medicine.
And, you know, especially with my mental health,
I feel like when I eat healthy nourishing foods,
I feel my best,
so I really wanna focus on that in today's video.
Now, before we hop in, if you aren't already subscribed,
it's free, click that button down below.
I post new videos every single week on this channel.
And if you like this style of video,
I have a full playlist which I will also link down below
for you guys to check out.
So without further ado,
let's get started and hop in to today's video.
These mornings I'm either having a smoothie or oatmeal
and both of them are nourishing and I love them.
In a saucepan I'm just adding in some water,
rolled oats, a pinch of sea salt.
And then I'm just combining that
and I'm gonna let it come to a boil,
and then simmer it with the lid on
until the oats are halfway cooked.
While that's happening,
I'm also boiling my water for some tea.
I'm drinking this camomile citrus tea.
I've been really enjoying it.
It's a really nice relaxing yet flavorful herbal tea.
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Once the oats are starting to get tender,
I like to add in some unsweetened oat milk
and some ripe banana.
You can also use frozen banana.
The banana is gonna give a really nice sweetness
and texture to the oatmeal,
it's one of my must haves when I have oatmeal,
and a good sprinkle of some cinnamon.
Give it a stir and then just pop the lid back on.
Just cook this on a low simmer.
I have a ton of oatmeal recipes on my blog.
I will link some down below.
But this is usually the base of my oatmeal
and then you can kinda play around with it from there.
So lately I've been really enjoying this adding in
some frozen blueberries.
These were a little bit freezer burnt, but that's okay,
we gotta use up what we have.
And then a good sprinkle of some ground flax
for extra fiber.
And I just like to melt those in during
the last like minute of cooking.
The blueberries don't take long to thaw
and it's just a nice way to use frozen instead of fresh,
because you're gonna warm them up anyways.
And now we are ready to plate.
I used to like my oats a little bit more on a hardy side,
but now I guess I'm turning into my mom,
I like them really creamy,
and that's how I've been making them lately.
Now, oatmeal only as good as its toppings.
So I have some creamy nut butter, chia seeds,
pumpkin seeds, and then I'm using the rest of that banana
and I'm just slicing that on top
with a drizzle of some nice organic honey.
This bowl of oats was so good,
I actually had leftovers for the next day.
Oatmeal stores really well in the fridge
and you can just heat it up and add on your toppings.
For lunch I've been craving salads,
so I decided to make a massive one,
and just enjoy this outside
while reading some "Harry Potter."
Okay, so I'm starting off with my base
which is romaine lettuce.
I really like the crunch of romaine lettuce
and you can of course use any greens that you like.
But I'm just gonna tear mine all apart
and then make sure to give then a good wash.
I really love using a salad spinner.
I didn't have one for a long time.
But it's crazy, after you wash your greens
there's so much water that comes off of them.
And the problem is if your greens are really sopping wet,
your dressing isn't gonna stick to them.
And I just find your salad isn't as enjoyable to eat.
Look at of that leftover water
that would have been on my greens
and just in my salad.
So I'm just chopping up everything.
I like to have my salads pretty chopped.
I just think it's really nice when you can have a bite
of a little bit of everything in your salad,
instead of having like huge pieces of lettuce
that you're biting into.
I just think it just tastes better
and it's easier to eat.
I basically have been adding whatever I have in the fridge.
So today I had some cucumber,
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red bell pepper,
and I forgot the actual name for these guys,
but these are like those little cherry tomatoes on the vine.
They are the sweetest, most flavorful tomatoes
you will ever try.
If you can get tomatoes on the vine still,
I just think that they have so much more flavor.
I don't know if that 'cause they have more time to ripen,
but they are delicious.
And then I had this very ripe pear
that I didn't want to go to waste.
I just peeled off some of the bruised skin
and I just chopped that up.
And there's something so delicious about
just that subtle sweetness in your salad.
Whether you do apple or pear or oranges,
I just think it's really nice to have
that kind of sweet and savory mix in your salad.
And then lastly I'm adding in some avocado
which I had stored away with my avocado hugger.
This is like the best kitchen gadget,
I'll link it down below,
it just keeps your avocado fresh for days.
And then I just added some pumpkin seeds for crunch.
And then for dressing I'm keeping it super simple
with some balsamic vinegar,
some good extra virgin olive oil
and then a good pinch of sea salt and black pepper.
The produce was so fresh and flavorful
that it really didn't need a heavy dressing.
And this was like the perfect thing just to sit outside,
get some fresh air, with Miss Cashew
who has been my companion every day.
I love her so much,
I don't know what I would do without her.
And I have just finished the first book of "Harry Potter"
and I'm already on the second one.
And reading has just been something really enjoyable lately
and just getting outside when I can.
I'm just so grateful for our little backyard,
that is quite little, but it's been well loved
and used right now.
For snack time I sometimes just to kinda do like
a little snacking plate.
So Matt was home now, and we're just snacking on
some Gouda cheese, I got some Mary's crackers,
raw walnuts, clementine and then a big bowl of watermelon
that I just like to chop up a ton and store it,
so I could snack on it.
Of course, I have my water bottle,
which I drink water a ton throughout the day.
And then I'm also rolling on some of my Valor
essential oil blend,
which is so good for like emotional support,
bravery, all those things.
I love it, it smells like blueberries.
It's really awesome.
Alright, for dinner I've been so excited
because I've been really craving daal,
it's one of my favorite things to order when we order in
some Indian takeout.
That basically is the mixture of lentils
that are cooked down with a lot spices and flavors.
So I wanted to use up what I had,
so I had some red lentils and some,
I think these are split yellow peas.
And then I just wanted to give them a good rinse
and then I just discarded that water,
and then I just did it one more time.
I don't do this all the time,
but honestly after doing it this time
I realized how important it is,
'cause sometimes you get like things that start to float up.
That you don't really want in your food.
So I think it's really good to give your grains
and your lentils a good rinse.
And then I also just soaked them for about
10 to 15 minutes just to soften them
before I started to cook them.
So, to cook them I was gonna add them into my pot
and then fill it up with some water.
I don't have a specific recipe for this,
but I did write some rough notes
on what I used for measurements.
So I will put this in the info box down below,
and then you guys can just kinda follow my instructions
that I'm showing in the video.
But I added water, I added a pinch of salt.
I added in some turmeric at this point,
but I don't think you needed to.
And then I just gave it a stir
and I'm just gonna cook this.
I think I cooked it for around 35-45 minutes
on a low simmer.
Like I brought it to boil, simmered it with a lid on.
I like to prep everything ahead of time
especially when you're cooking on high heat
for a short period of time,
it's really important to prep all of your ingredients.
I got shallot, ginger, garlic,
tomato, cumin seeds, cardamom pods or seeds,
and then a few spices here on the side.
Turmeric, garam masala, sea salt
and some ground coriander.
I'm also using some ghee for the base,
you can use coconut oil if you like.
Ghee is so delicious, it's clarified butter.
And this one from Lee's Ghee is really delicious
and they even have like a maple one,
it's really good for baking pancakes in.
So this is what your lentils should look like
after they kinda softened up and cooked down.
It's okay if it's watery looking,
'cause it's gonna thicken up, trust me.
So, to another pan I'm gonna add in some of that ghee.
Now, you wanna go a little heavy with that
because it's what's really gonna give
some richness to the daal.
I'm gonna fry up my whole seeds.
So I have cumin seeds and the cardamom.
Side note, if I was to redo this,
I don't know if I would keep the cardamom,
I just found it kinda hard to pick out afterwards.
I just had them and I thought it would be really flavorful.
And then I'm adding in the shallots
and just cooking those up for a bit
just to kinda soften them.
You just wanna make sure nothing is burning.
And then adding in my tomatoes
'cause want them to cook down and soften,
so you don't have just like chunks of tomato in your daal.
I like to add the garlic and ginger last,
once again so they don't burn.
As you can tell there is a lot of garlic and ginger.
I also have a dried chili pepper
that I got from my parents' garden.
This is optional, and it wasn't too spicy at all
to be honest, so I would have add more or split it open.
And then I'm adding those spices
and then I'm just toasting everything up
to really enhance the flavor.
I ended up adding in some coconut oil as well
just 'cause I felt like it was getting a little bit dry.
And at this point, once everything is really cooked
and flavorful I'm gonna add in the daal mixture,
or like the lentils.
Give everything a stir and let the flavors combined
and that's what's gonna give those lentils that rich flavor.
This is such an easy, yet super flavorful dish.
Highly recommend making it.
You can serve it with some rice, some naan bread.
Honestly, I would just eat it with the naan bread
and I would be happy.
Also I had some wilted spinach,
'cause I had some fresh spinach that was about to go bad.
And then I just served it with the daal
over top of everything and some toasted naan bread
that I just toast up under like the broil setting
in my oven with a little bit of olive oil
drizzled on top.
This is such a comforting meal to enjoy right now.
I highly recommend making it.
That's so good.
Mmhm.
I hope this video helped inspire you
to create some nourishing delicious meals in your own home.
You know, it doesn't have to be specific to
the ingredients I used.
You use what you have on hand.
A lot of recipes you could easily make
simple substitutions and if you're unsure,
just leave me a comment down below
and I will definitely get back to you
with what you can use instead
based on what you have in your fridge and pantry.
Thank you so much for watching,
as always be sure to give this video a thumbs up,
it really helps support my channel.
And if you're new here and you didn't know
I actually have my very own cookbook,
it just released last fall and it's filled
with delicious nourishing meals that you can make
with simple ingredients.
A lot of the recipes in here are made in 30 minutes or less,
there's a ton of plant-based recipes,
gluten free, paleo, you name it.
It's delicious, it's family-friendly.
And it's also great if you live by yourself
or with you and your partner,
there are different size meals for everyone,
so I call this the healthy cookbook for everyone
'cause it really is.
And you guys can grab a copy, a link will be down below,
we actually sell these on the HealthNut Shop as well.
And any books that are sold from the shop
are personally signed by moi
and I'll leave a little message in there too.
So, thank you so much,
I will see you guys in the next video
and have a fabulous day.
And send me your photos of what you guys are making
and tag me on Instagram so I can see them.
Bye guys!
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