Did you know that your food seasoning could be the healthiest ingredient in the whole dish?  Americans value convenience, but convenience in eating comes with a great price (for our wellness). And even if we stick to the perimeter of the grocery store and avoid processed foods, it can be discouraging to find out that the nutritional value or fruits and veggies are significantly lower than they were in 1950.

Examples of the Decline of Nutritional Values:

• 1951 – 1 cup of Spinach to get the recommended RDA of Iron – Today 65 cups
• 1951 – 2 peaches to receive the RDA of vitamin A – Today you would need 53 peaches.
• 1951 – 1 tomato – today you would need 31
• 1951 – 2 oranges – RDA of vitamin C – today 8 oranges

We’ve found that we can take somewhat healthy foods from the grocery store and sprinkle on a real food seasoning called NutriVerus from Mannatech to bulk up the nutrition.  It’s like bridging the gap between what we should be getting from our foods and what we are actually getting.

Here are a few ideas of how we like to use it as a daily seasoning for all the members of our family.  We especially like how we can sneak it into our kids’ diets without them even knowing.  Our families and our wellness clients report back about how they have more focus in school and work, their digestion is working better and they have a healthy flow of energy throughout the day!

How about a SPINACH PESTO recipe?

Most pestos are made with with basil or even arugula, but we like spinach.  It goes really nicely with pasta, as a pizza topping and as a sandwich spread.  And Marla’s kids even said it was yummy!  It does seem to require a food processor, so we recommend investing in one before embarking on this.  You can easily double this recipe and freeze the extra.

Ingredients

• 2 1/2 cups lightly packed baby SPINACH leaves
• 1/3 cup ALMONDS (or whatever nuts you have like walnuts, pinenuts, pistachios, etc)
• 3 tablespoons fresh LEMON juice
• 2 teaspoons grated LEMON peel
• 1/4 cup OLIVE OIL
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 1/4 cup freshly grated PARMESAN
• 6 scoops of NUTRIVERUS seasoning

Directions

1. In a food processor, combine the spinach, almonds, lemon juice, and lemon peel. Lightly pulse until well mixed.
2. With the machine running on low, slowly add the olive oil until the mixture is creamy.
3. Stir the Parmesan into the mixture, and season with salt and pepper and NutriVerus. Mix well.
4. If you’re putting it on pasta, cook the pasta first and mix in the pesto just before serving.

Makes about 2 cups.

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The Healthiest & Yummiest Salsa Recipe

My church recently had a salsa contest.  Not the dancing kind.  Ha!  Mine should have won.  It certainly did with my family.  It was made with very little kick so that the boys would be able to enjoy it too.  We enjoy it with chips and with their soft tacos.  One thing the contest judges didn’t judge on was the healthiest one?  This one would have won BY FAR!  The secret ingredient was NutriVerus.  Shhhh…

Ingredients (This recipe is adapted from Pioneer Woman’s version because she rocks!)

• 38 Ounces of canned Whole Tomatoes With Juice
• 2 small cans Green Chilies
• 1/4 cup Chopped Onion
• 1 clove Garlic, Minced
• 1/4 teaspoon Stevia (or Coconut Palm Sugar)
• 1/4 teaspoon Sea Salt
• 1/4 teaspoon Ground Cumin
• 1/2 cup Cilantro
• 1/2 whole Lime Juice
• 6-8 scoops of NutriVerus

• Preparation Instructions

  This is a HUGE batch. We recommend using a 12-cup food processor, or you can process the ingredients in batches and then mix everything together in a large mixing bowl.

  Combine whole tomatoes, green chilies, onion, garlic, stevia, NutriVerus, salt, cumin, lime juice, and cilantro in a blender or food processor. Pulse until you get the salsa to the consistency you’d like—About 15 pulses. Test seasonings with a tortilla chip and adjust as needed.

  Refrigerate salsa for at least an hour.

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Pulled Pork Soft Tacos with an awesome nutritional punch

This soft taco is made of pulled pork, barbecue sauce, coleslaw, avocado slices, melted gouda cheese, salt, pepper, and a nice sprinkling of the NutriVerus seasoning!  Enjoy.

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We welcome your ideas of how you like to use the NutriVerus real food seasoning in the comments.

Recipes and post by Marla Finley

If you liked this post, you’ll also enjoy these:

• Tuna Fish Salad Sandwich with Avocados
• Popcorn Seasoning, Green Salad and Applesauce
• Spaghetti, Eggs, Peanut Butter and Applesauce in NutriVerus Foods
• Gluten-free stir fry