Doblas - The healthy matcha cookbook : green tea-inspired meals, snacks, drinks, and desserts

Skyhorse and Skyhorse Publishing are registered trademarks of Skyhorse Publishing, Inc., a Delaware corporation. Visit our website at www.skyhorsepublishing.com. 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available on file. Cover design by Brian Peterson Cover photo by Miryam Quinn-Doblas Print ISBN: 978-1-63450-221-4 Ebook ISBN: 978-1-5107-0062-8 Printed in China ACKNOWLEDGMENTS Firstly, I would love to dedicate this book to my mother, who instilled in me the greatest work ethic and perseverance to never give upto always have a positive attitude and to believe that anything is possible. To my two little cookies, as I referred to them ever since they were little, Miqueas and Mikaela, who are the loves of my life, my inspiration, and who make me better each day. To my readers, without your support and interest in becoming a healthier you, bringing you creative, healthier recipes wouldnt be as easy.

Thanks for following along. INTRODUCTION: A BIT ABOUT ME AND MATCHA Growing up in Spain, I was able to experience the greatest gifts this culture has to offerespecially when it came to food. Eating the Mediterranean diet and being introduced to quality ingredients and certain foods from a very young age is what molded my passion for great food as I grew older. Since I was a child, I always loved being around the kitchen. I loved cooking and baking and always dreamed of having my own restaurant and bakery someday. Collecting cookbooks as well as recipes from cooking magazines, which I still have, was one of the things I remembered doing most when I was younger.

I also loved menu planning and going grocery shopping with my mom. Browsing the many grocery aisles and selecting ingredients to cook and bake with, talking about recipes with my older aunts, and recording new recipes I wanted to experiment with were things I enjoyed doing. Anything related to food was comforting to me. Oftentimes as a teenager, friends and family would ask me to bake and cook for them. There was nothing that made me happier than being around food, so cooking and baking for loved ones was simply a pleasure. Since my mom worked full time while I was growing up, I was also frequently left to prepare meals for my siblings.

Of course I never minded; I never considered it a chore since that is what I loved to do. Early on, I learned and appreciated that cooking and baking from scratch using wholesome ingredients is what made food taste great and what made me feel my best. Experimenting with different flavors, textures, and ingredients is what kept me curious in the kitchen. To this date, I have never lost interest; there is nothing I enjoy more than developing healthy recipes for me and my family, and I have high hopes to be able to pass that interest and enthusiasm along to my kids. Today, most of us know that a healthy diet plays a huge role in our well-being. When leading a healthy lifestyle, we all know that a typical balanced diet with plenty of fruit and vegetables, complex carbohydrates, healthy fats, low intake of sugars and salt, as well as consuming lean protein is most important.

I believe these, coupled with having the right mindset and exercising regularly, is the secret of a good, long, quality life. Our bodies are complex machines that, without good care and the right tools, will break down and cant be used to their fullest potential. In this cookbook, I showcase sweet and savory recipes using one of the most ancient and most powerful healthy ingredientsmatcha powder. If you incorporate superfoods into your diet on a regular basis but never thought of matcha powder, now is a great time to start using it. Take advantage of the many healthy properties this ingredient has to offer! The benefits of matcha have been well documented. Matcha is a concentrated, powerful antioxidant form of green tea that has a large number of components that are beneficial to human health.

Even if you are already following a healthy lifestyle, incorporating matcha into your diet can still benefit you. Throughout the years, I have made it a point to introduce superfoods into my cooking and baking. Since discovering matchas potent, healthy properties, I have wanted to incorporate it into most of my meals in any way I can. Today, through this book, I can share with you some of my most valuable healthy matcha recipes, which I hope you enjoy. History of Green Tea Tea is a beverage with more than five thousand years of history, said to be discovered around 2500 BC. Many believe the first seeds to be imported to Japan came from Zen Monk Eisai in 1191 AD.

Around that time, cultivation of tea began. Thanks to Zen Monk Eisai, matcha later become Japans most treasured kind of green tea, as well as the tea of choice for the traditional Japanese tea ceremony. Drinking tea in Japan is much more than just drinking tea : the tea ceremony, called Chado, is a spiritual experience in which harmony, respect, purity, and tranquility are represented. It is a very well-respected ceremony of which Japanese people are quite proud. Many also believed that Buddhist monks of ancient times helped tea break into the common market. Buddhist monks produced natural remedies from different plants and, since tea was known to be medicinal, it was natural for Buddhist monks to powder the green tea leaf as they would other traditional Chinese medicines.

This may have been how matcha was born. In Japanese cha means tea, and ma means powder, thus matcha translates to powdered green tea. Because the entire leaf is ingested in powder form, it is the most potent green tea in the world. The lack of processing results in extremely high nutrient levels. Matcha is the healthiest form of tea. Today, Japan only exports a very small amount of its productionabout 4 percent of its precious matcha.

Because of its great consumption in Japan, and because very little makes it out of the country, you may have to pay higher prices for this wonderful powdered tea. Matcha is not only a highly treasured specialty green tea, but its also used frequently in Japanese cooking and baking. Because there are different grades of matcha, you must know which are best to cook and bake with. If you want to just drink matcha and make the classic green tea, highest quality matcha is most suitable. Highest quality matchas have a higher level of antioxidants and amino acids and are more expensive. For cooking and baking, other intermediate quality varieties that are characterized by a more astringent flavor are used.

These are still very good; however, the flavor as well as nutrient content may be lower. Matcha Basics While matcha is predominantly used for drinks such as lattes, milkshakes, and ice drinks, you canand shoulduse certain grades of matcha that will work in an array of different cooking and baking recipes. The two most popular types of matcha are Usucha, or thin tea, which creates a lighter and slightly more bitter tea, and Koicha, or thick tea, which requires significantly more matcha than Usucha to make tea. Koicha is also made with more expensive matcha and produces a milder and sweeter tea than Usucha. Depending on the leaves used and the way of cultivating matcha, prices may vary. The matchas milled using traditional granite stone wheels, and those with deeper greener colors (as well as softest textures) tend to be more expensive and highest in quality.