Category: Food & Health

Posted in Food & Health

Soup Shop!

Posted on by Yuvika

After exploring #vegan and #vegetarian food worldwide, I thought it would be helpful to start sharing some honest food reviews from time to time. A few notes on some cool abbreviations in my food reviews:

1. Rating – I don’t want to give a zero rating to anyone’s hard work in cooking something, so if I wouldn’t try something again, then my rating will be “CBB,” which stands for “could be better.” Yes, I just came up with that! 🙂

2. Vegetarian is abbreviated as “veg.”

3. Vegan is abbreviated as “vn.”

My first #food #review is for a #soup place in #Chicago

Place: Soup & Scoops, 6701 N Olmsted Ave, Chicago, IL 60631

Food Items:

1. Cream of mushroom soup – veg. – 5/5 Stars

I love the #creamy taste, the chewy texture of #mushrooms, and the bits of #herbs in this soup. I would go back for this soup. Based on my conversation with the cashier, typically, they would change their soup #menu so that a given soup could be back on their menu after two weeks. Plus, if they have any leftover soup, it is sold for half the price the next day.

2. Detox soup – vn. – CBB

This one is a water broth that looks like tea. I wasn’t sure what to do with it when it came in a soup cup. Drink it directly from the cup? I wouldn’t order this again. I didn’t take a picture of it!

Vibe Check: This is a #beautiful hidden gem with #vintage #furniture, fresh #flowers, and a #colorful #decor that is simple yet pretty. They have cute ice cream cups, but I haven’t tried any of their scoops yet. There was no music, and the place was super quiet. Adding some music should make this place even better.🎵

Parking: There is a cheap parking lot across from this place.

Verdict: Would I go back? Yes! ✅

Enjoy these pictures and share in the comments if you have tried their soup or once you try it!

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Posted in Food & Health

Got cake?

Posted on by Yuvika

How do you treat your #thanksgivingleftovers?

I treat myself with #treats like this one! The best way to eat your #fruits is to have them with #cake

🧀 Just chopped some kiwi in a cheesecake from @wholefoods
🥝 Mixed it well 🍰
🫐 Topped with some blueberries

I hope that you enjoy 😊 this #yummy #instant #snack

Posted in Food & Health

Tea Size ☕️

Posted on by Yuvika

As a tea lover, I was not happy to hear when my friend said that she has tried so many different teas but she doesn’t get a good taste when she drinks tea. If you are struggling with getting the taste of tea in general, then let me share some simple tea tips with you that I shared with her.

Tea Tips 💚💖

1) This is the most important thing – please make sure that you are using a small teacup – the type that is meant for tea and not for lattes or smoothies or anything else

Reason – If you use a big cup, your tea will dilute in all the extra water and you won’t get the true taste!

2) Use a proper English teacup or if you are extra blessed then you might find a small Chinese teacup, but be extra careful with the latter as it doesn’t have a handle and it can get too hot to handle 😉

3) Make sure that you boil the water that you are going to use for your tea so that it is hot enough to dissolve all the goodness from your cute tea bag (iced tea is not the traditional way to have tea. It is okay to have it, but here we are only talking about a hot cup of tea 🍵)

4) Place the tea bag (with the tag hanging outside the cup) inside your teacup and then pour hot water into it

5) Lift the tea bag and using the string, dunk it back in the teacup for the tea to steep

6) Let it sit for a minute or two and repeat step 5 until you see the water is saturated with the color of the tea

7) Let the tea steep for ten minutes and then take out the teabag

8) Smell your tea before sipping it in to enjoy your sensory experience

9) Take a sip and feel it on your taste buds with your eyes closed to appreciate your tea and thank yourself for making it

10) You may repeat step 9 until you slowly finish your tea

Hope that you enjoy your tea with these tea tips 🫖

For loose leaf tea, you can use these same tips, but instead of using the teabag, you would need to use a tea strainer ball in which you will add one teaspoon of your loose tea. You will also need to take the ball out before you start sipping your tea ☕️

Posted in Food & Health

Vegan Ramen

Posted on by Yuvika

What’s for dinner I ask? How about some vegan “buttery” #ramen and “chicken” tenders? All under 20 mins 😁

Ingredients:
1) Any vegan broth (I used low sodium, so it barely had any taste, which gave me freedom to add my own spices!) – a full pack of Imagine Foods broth from @wholefoods
2) Any noodles you want (half the quantity of a full pack of soup)
3) Any spices you want
4) Any veggies you want (recommend not more than two – otherwise that would be a crowded ramen party)
4) Throw them all in a pot and they’ll be done in about 15 mins

While the above were kissing each other in the pot, I shallow fried some @gardein “chicken” tenders (no oil, they already came done with oil)

You may add vegan butter @miyokoscreamery and any herbs for garnishing. I used chopped #cilantro because it’s the go-to garnishing in the #brownculture 😁

Vegan Ramen and “Chicken” Tenders
Posted in Food & Health

Work it Out

Posted on by Yuvika

At some point, most of us have procrastinated for working out and there are times when we just need a nudge to get our body moving. I am going to share a very simple yet important reason to give you that motivational nudge.

Blood circulation is of course an important system of our body. It helps to distribute nutrients across our body. It is important to get active and turn up our heart rate with some exercises that work for us. Working out also helps to maintain our body muscles and after all, heart is a muscle as well. For a good heart health, we need to maintain a healthy workout routine. There are of course many other factors that contribute to our heart health and many other benefits of exercising but I just wanted to share a quick motivation to give you that push. Note: It is also important to maintain your body’s water balance as you workout. Drink enough water to prevent dehydration and maintain a water balance to avoid water intoxication. Have a healthy workout!

Please note that I am just sharing a motivational message and you may want to consider a consultation with your health care/fitness professional for the right workout for your body.

Posted in Food & Health

Cook, not Burn

Posted on by Yuvika

QUICK COOKING TIP: Foods rich in water-soluble vitamins should be cooked gently and not exposed to high heat in order to retain their nutritional value.

It is important to cook food at an appropriate temperature. Foods rich in Vitamins B and C should be cooked gently as these water-soluble vitamins have a low stability to heat. Next time you are cooking with broccoli, green leafy vegetables, potatoes or other food items rich in water-soluble vitamins, make sure to cook at low to medium heat and for the appropriate amount of time in order to avoid the loss of their vitamin value.

©️2018 Yuvika @Big Life. All rights reserved.

Posted in Food & Health

Did you know?

Posted on by Yuvika

QUICK HEALTH TIP: As always, it is best to avoid processed foods.

Did you know that processed foods made with trans fats are bad for your body’s cholesterol balance and eventually bad for your heart health?

Did you know that one processed cookie made with trans fats is usually the maximum amount of trans fats that you should be eating in a day?

Check these articles for more information:

https://www.livestrong.com/article/501704-recommended-intake-of-trans-fat/.

https://www-m.cnn.com/2018/05/14/health/trans-fats-who-2023-intl-bn/index.html

https://www.dairynutrition.ca/nutrients-in-milk-products/fat/natural-trans-fats

Source:

Andrews, J.M. “Recommended Intake of Trans Fat.” LIVESTRONG.COM. October 03, 2017. Accessed May 14, 2018. https://www.livestrong.com/article/501704-recommended-intake-of-trans-fat/.

Posted in Food & Health

Green Quinoa Salad

Posted on by Yuvika

Ingredients:

1. 1 cup boiled quinoa (makes two servings)

2. Greens – Kale, Parsley and Lettuce – all finely chopped

3. Tofu cubes – soft tofu

4. Your favorite yogurt based dressing

5. Extra virgin olive oil

6. Salt

7. Black pepper powder

8. Cherry tomatoes – optional (3-4)

Method:

1. Mix all the greens and tofu with any yogurt based dressing

2. Add quinoa to the above mix and then add extra virgin olive oil, salt and pepper

3. Note: quinoa should be at the room temperature

Try and share your reviews 😋

©️2018 Yuvika @Big Life. All rights reserved.

Posted in Food & Health

Yum Dip

Posted on by Yuvika

Keep cool this summer with my super-quick and refreshing, Yum Dip.

Ingredients:

  1. 1/2 of a small tomato – finely chopped
  2. 1/4 cup Ranch dressing
  3. 1/3 cup Mayonnaise
  4. Handful of Cilantro – finely chopped

Method:

Mix all the ingredients in a bowl – start with ranch, mayo, cilantro and then add in the tomato.

Enjoy with your favorite snacks. You can relish this with tortilla chips, wings or any other snacks that you want! 😋

Note: make sure to taste your ranch dressing and mayo before mixing because you may want to avoid ingredients that are more on the sour side (usually some varieties of ranch vinaigrette dressing and avocado oil mayonnaise are a little too sour). In that case, just use a regular variety of ranch and mayo.

©️2018 Yuvika @Big Life. All rights reserved.

Posted in Food & Health

My favorite pre-workout snack

Posted on by Yuvika

Sharing the recipe of my favorite pre-workout snack and sometimes, this is also my instant breakfast.

Almond Banana Toast

Ingredients:

  1. One slice of any multigrain bread
  2. Banana
  3. Almond butter

Method:

1. Toast a slice of any multigrain bread on both sides.

2. Spread some smooth almond butter on one side of the slice. Tip: I personally like the smooth almond butter but you can try the crunchy almond butter if you like that one.

3. Cut some banana (usually less than half) into slices and gently cover the toast with banana slices.

4. You can have the toast like I have it in the picture or you can fold it and easily have it on the go.

5. Sometimes, this is also my instant breakfast along with the leftover banana.

#PreWorkout #Breakfast #InstantSnack #InstantBreakfast #PreWorkoutSnack #PreWorkoutFood #CleanFood #HealthyFood #FruitsInFood #Almond #HealthyButter #AlmondButter #BananaSnack #Nutrition #Fitness #Food #Recipes #FoodBlog #FoodBlogger #Enjoy #BigLife

©️2018 Yuvika @Big Life. All rights reserved.