Superfoods: All-Time Favourite Turmeric Recipes

Turmeric is a vibrant yellowish-orange root that is a natural wonder. Used in Asia for thousands of years as a dye and for medicinal purposes, turmeric is also a cooking staple (its vibrant hue makes curry and mustard dishes yellow). Originating from the same family as ginger, the most active element in turmeric is curcumin, and is where most of this golden spice gets its long list of healing properties. The superfood – or superspice, rather – may help with diabetes, heart health, eczema and psoriasis, pain relief and so much more.

Here are 12 healthy and delicious turmeric recipes that you’ll want to make right away.

Butter Chicken
This popular Indian-restaurant favourite is a crowd-pleaser. We love the turmeric flavouring that mixes well in the dish. But don’t be put off by the number of ingredients in this recipe. It is really simple to make. Most of it can also be prepared in advance for a quick and easy weeknight dinner.
Get the turmeric recipe here.

Vegetable and Pork Curry

The beauty of this turmeric curry dish is that it’s versatile and will work with just about any meat or vegetables you have on hand.

Get the turmeric recipe here.

Shrimp and Feta Couscous
Few things go together as well as turmeric shrimp and couscous.  Get the turmeric recipe here.

Moroccan Apricot Olive Chicken

This quick turmeric chicken dish is lightly spiced and served atop couscous.

Get the turmeric recipe here.   

Vegan Mac and “Cheese”

This soy-free, dairy-free macaroni recipe is not only easy to make, but will appeal to limited and unlimited palates and appetites alike. The bright, cheesey colour comes from the turmeric.

Get the turmeric recipe here.

Tropical Strawberry and Pineapple Smoothie
Sipping on this healthy strawberry and turmeric smoothie will help you feel like you’re on a beach getaway.  Get the turmeric recipe here.

Vegetarian Quinoa-Stuffed Bell Peppers 
This turmeric stuffed-pepper recipe is packed with iron.
Get the turmeric recipe here.

Immune Power Broth

Boost your health with this easy-to-make turmeric bone broth recipe. Make a big batch and store it in the fridge in portable, single-serve containers.   Get the turmeric recipe here.

Roast Turkey and Lemon Couscous

A small whole turkey is amazingly economical. It will give enough meat for at least eight portions, or you can serve four people and have plenty of leftovers for sandwiches, salads and other dishes and make stock with the carcass. This turmeric roast turkey with lemon couscous is a wonderful pairing.
Get the turmeric recipe here.

Moroccan Carrot & Lentil Soup

This turmeric vegetarian soup packs plenty of protein. Have it on the dinner table in less than 30 minutes.
Get the turmeric recipe here.

Spicy Chicken Soup
Elevate your go-to chicken soup recipe with your favourite warming Indian spices, like turmeric. Serve with whole wheat chapattis or naan bread.
Get the turmeric recipe here.

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Discover The Health Benefits of Peppermint

Peppermint is not only for freshening breath and flavouring candy; it also has health benefits that are good for your stomach, chest and head.

Discover The Many Health Benefits Of Peppermint

A highly versatile herb long used to flavour sweets, toothpaste and mouthwashes among other things’peppermint is also used as a treatment for indigestion, irritable bowel syndrome, coughs and headaches.

Mint may someday offer even more health benefits: botanical-medicine experts say that in test tubes peppermint tea has demonstrated antibacterial and antiviral activities, too.

Like other mints, peppermint has elongated leaves with serrated edges. A cluster of purple flowers crowns the stem in summer. The species we know as peppermint is a natural cross between watermint and spearmint.

Peppermint has been used for its health benefits for many years; traditionally it was a treatment for digestive problems, nausea, cholera, colds, cramps and bloating. It was also used as a chest rub in the nineteenth century to ease whooping cough.

How To Take Peppermint As A Health Remedy

As a digestive aid: enjoy mint in cooking or as a tea. (To make peppermint tea: steep dried peppermint in boiling water for 10 minutes, strain and sip.)

For irritable bowel syndrome: take 1 or 2 peppermint oil capsules 2 to 3 times a day; enteric-coated capsules are recommended because they pass through the stomach without being digested, so that the oil reaches the intestines.

For a tension headache: rub a few drops of peppermint oil tincture’10 percent oil, 90 percent alcohol’on your forehead. A 1996 study by researchers from Christian-Albrechts University in Kiel, Germany, even proved that peppermint can ease tension headaches in just 15 minutes and keep pain at bay for up to an hour.

For cough and cold: look for menthol or mint in cough and cold remedies, or in teas. While it doesn’t really break up nasal congestion, it does stimulate sensory receptors in the nose that detect cold temperatures’so you at least feel as if you’re breathing more freely.

For mild wheezing and coughing: try a minty chest rub.

Don’t give peppermint to babies or toddlers or use oil on their faces, as it can disrupt breathing.


Peppermint To Ease Tummy Trouble
The essential oils in peppermint, especially menthol and menthone, are stomach-friendly. They were shown in laboratory studies conducted by pharmaceutical company SmithKline Beecham in 1983 and 1991 to relax the smooth muscle that lines your intestinal tract, which in turn eases cramping, and they stimulate the flow of bile, a digestive juice that breaks down fats. In addition, they relax the ring of muscle at the top of your stomach, which can make burping easier’but could also boost odds for heartburn if you lie down soon after a large meal that includes mint.


Peppermint For Irritable Bowel Syndrome
Peppermint can help ease the pain of irritable bowel syndrome (IBS). When Turkish researchers gave 90 people with IBS a peppermint oil capsule or placebo 3 times a day for 8 weeks, the mint group found surprising relief’1 in 3 felt a significant reduction in abdominal pain.


In a 2007 study at the University of Chieti and Pescara, Italy, 57 people with IBS took 2 peppermint oil capsules twice a day for 4 weeks and experienced an average of 50 percent reduction in discomfort. In 2011, Australian scientists discovered that, as well as easing cramping in the intestinal tract, peppermint acts through a pain-sensing channel called TRPM8, reducing signals in nerve pain-sensing fibres in the intestinal walls. These fibres often go on high alert after a bout of stomach flu, which can lead to IBS, the researchers said.

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