honey m!lkshake (with bee pollen)

I hope you enjoyed a wonderful sunny weekend and are feeling refreshed and ready for the coming week. Today I am sharing with you my honey m!lkshake with bee pollen in it. It is truly delicious and nutritious, which is quite a feat when using bee pollen – as on it’s own it’s a far cry from delicious!

I discovered bee pollen about six months ago, I had read all about it’s fabulous health benefits – in particular a couple of studies where Doctors had used it to help people with allergies and immunology issues.

Bee pollen reduces the presence of histamine, ameliorating many allergies. Dr. Leo Conway, MD, of Denver Colorado, reported that 94 percent of his patients were completely free from allergy symptoms once treated with eating bee pollen. Everything from asthma to allergies to sinus problems were cleared.

Bee pollen also contains enzymes that can aid in digestion. Enzymes assist your body in getting all the nutrients you need from the food that you eat and is good for the intestinal flora and thereby supports the immune system. It also has anti-inflammatory properties, is rich in protein, as well as amino acids and vitamins. It is a super food. One of the most interesting facts about bee pollen is that it can’t be synthesized in a laboratory. Chemical analyses of bee pollen has been done thousands of times with current diagnostic equipment, but there are still some elements present in bee pollen which science is unable to identify! The bees add some mysterious “extra” of their own. These unidentifiable elements may very well be the reason bee pollen works so spectacularly against so many diverse conditions of ill health.

I got very excited about it’s potential in Aaron’s diet and ordered some bee pollen via amazon, where we get quite a lot of our weird/special ingredients! It arrived, and I opened the pack and tried a little pellet. It was GROSS! It tasted like I imagined ear wax would taste. Absolutely DISGUSTING! My partner tried some too and had to spit it out – we had to use mouthwash to get rid of the taste. It was foul. I was gutted – there was no way I would get Aaron to eat that, it was definitely an acquired taste that he would not enjoy!

If forgot about it for a while, and then a few weeks ago, when the GP advised that Aaron cut out gluten from his diet even though we hadn’t had the results back from his biopsy (still waiting!!!) I was thinking about building him up and getting lots of nutrients and goodness into his bod and thought I would revisit the special if slightly yucky stuff. I figured I could hide it with spices like ginger and cinnamon, and with raw cacao powder. As it’s best in it’s raw form I figured smoothies were the way to go. It worked!

I was timid initially – working with ¼ tsp bee pollen in strong flavoured smoothies, like my chocolate and ginger smoothie. Then I experimented with ½ tsp bee pollen in my mint and chocolate smoothie… slowly I increased the amount of bee pollen, and reduced the amount of other intense flavours until I ended up with this very simple m!lkshake which has lovely raw honey in it too. The perfect m!lk and honey combo; it’s refreshing and yummy for our tastebuds as well as yummy for our tummies!

I hope you give it a go, give bee pollen a go and let us know how you eat yours!! What’s your favourite way to disguise the taste? To be fair to bee pollen I seem to be acquiring the taste for it as I now can eat it unadulterated and find it quite alright!

honey m!lkshake (with bee pollen)

• Yield:

  serves 1

• Cooking Method:

  blitzing

• Prep Time:

  5 mins

• Cook Time:

  0 mins

Allergens:

no allergens

Dietary:

dairy-free, egg-free, gluten-free, healthy, nut-free, paleo, raw food, refined sugar-free, soy-free, vegan

This m!lkshake is a light and refreshing and full of fabulous-for you ingredients, including the very disgusting-tasting bee pollen! Do not be put off though - this m!lkshake is delish and a great way of hiding the flavour of bee-pollen and getting all it's goodness into our bods.

Bee pollen is full of protein, amino acids, vitamins (including vitamin B), scientists believe that each bee pollen pellet contains over two million flower pollen grains and one teaspoonful contains over 2.5 billion grains of flower pollen. Pollen reduces the presence of histamine, ameliorating many allergies. Pollen is also good for the intestinal flora (one area they think may be limited in children with severe food allergies) and thereby supports the immune system. I think it's worth a go getting it into my son, and the only way to do it is to hide the flavour - hence this scrummy m!lkshake! 

Ingredients:

• 5 dates (I use dried dates)*
• 3 Tbs gluten-free oats
• ¼ tsp ground cinnamon
• 1 C m!lk alternative - we use koko a thin coconut m!lk
• 1 banana
• ½ tsp bee pollen
• handful of ice
• 1½ tsp raw honey
• freshly grated nutmeg or ground cinnamon

Method:

1. Because I use dried dates and oats in this recipe I like to get a little jar of yum ready a while before I am going to make this m!lkshake.* If you use fresh dates you can skip this process if you prefer.

2. Into the jar pop the dried dates, oats, cinnamon and m!lk alternative. Give them a stir, pop the lid on and stick it in the fridge. The dates will soften and the oats will absorb the flavours.

3. When you want to make and drink the m!lkshsake, retrieve the jar of yum from the fridge, give it a stir and pour the lot into a liquidiser. 

4. Add a banana, broken into chunks, the all important bee pollen, ice and one teaspoon of raw honey. 

5. Give it all a good blitz and then pour into your glass. I drizzle the remaining half teaspoon of raw honey over the top and then grate nutmeg over that - or a sprinkling of ground cinnamon as pictured here.

Notes:

*Because I use dried dates and oats in this recipe I get a little jar of yum ready a while before I am going to make this m!lkshake. If it's going to be my breakfast on the hoof I get my jar of yum ready the night before.  If it's the lunch I am going to grab between meetings I make my jar of yum in the morning. Just knowing it's there ready and waiting makes me feel happy! 

Here are some other smoothie recipes which you may want to add a little bee pollen to if your are on the start of your journey with it!

chocolate ginger smoothie

• Yield:

  1 generous mug or 2 normal glasses

• Cooking Method:

  blending

• Prep Time:

  10 mins

• Cook Time:

  0 mins

Allergens:

no allergens

Dietary:

dairy-free, egg-free, gluten-free, healthy, nut-free, paleo, raw food, refined sugar-free, soy-free, vegan

This chocolate ginger smoothie is über luxurious and lush. It's a wonderful combo of cosy rich raw cacao powder and firey ginger root. It is somehow really comforting, warming and refreshing, as it packs a great big zinging ginger punch!

Ingredients:

• 4 cm³ ginger root peeled & chopped up
• 1 banana skinned & broken up
• ½ an avocado peeled & stoned
• 3 Tbs raw cacao powder
• handful of blueberries (I keep mine in the freezer)
• handful of ice
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 3-5 dates stoned (dependant on how sweet you like your smoothie)
• 1 C milk alternative of your choice

Method:

1. Bung all the ingredients into your blender and blitz thoroughly until it's a smooth thick consistency. Pour into your favourite glass and enjoy! 

Notes:

Enjoy sharing this treat of a drink with your children and friends 🙂

mental mint-choc smoothie

• Yield:

  1½ pints!

• Cooking Method:

  blending

• Prep Time:

  10 mins

• Cook Time:

  0 mins

Allergens:

no allergens

Dietary:

healthy, paleo, raw food, refined sugar-free, vegan

This mental mint-choc smoothie is über luxurious and pretty surprising. It’s really refreshing, thanks to the mass of fresh black peppermint I bung in. It’s awesome as it tastes naughty but makes your body feel really nice! Like you are feeding it something truly delicious and nutritious.

Ingredients:

• 1 banana skinned & broken up
• ½ an avocado peeled & stoned
• 400ml m!lk alternative
• 3-5 dates stoned (dependant on how sweet you like your smoothie)
• 2 Tbs raw cacao powder*
• handful of blueberries (I keep mine in the freezer)
• handful of ice
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• huge handful of black peppermint**

Method:

1. Bung all the ingredients into your blender in the order above and blitz thoroughly until it's a smooth thick consistency. Pour into your favourite jar and enjoy! 

Notes:

*If you're using normal cocoa powder add an extra Tbs

**If you're using normal mint add in a little extra as black peppermint is really strong!