The best way to get all the nutrients you need to thrive is to eat a balanced diet with lots of fresh vegetables and fruits, along with whole grains and lean protein. Yet sometimes our bodies need a boost from herbs, flowers, roots, and fungi that aren’t readily available at our local grocery stores. What better way to get those beneficial herbal supplements than to add them to your recipes?
It’s easy to cook with supplements that come in tincture, syrup, or powder form. Check out our ideas below for how to incorporate them into savory and sweet recipes that are both nutritious and delicious.
Using Gaia Herbs Supplements in Recipes
Gaia Herbs products are thoroughly tested for purity and integrity, so what you see on the label is what you get. Since you’re starting with pure ingredients, you can be confident that when you add them to any recipe, you will get the benefits of the specific amount of supplement you use.
We recommend recipes that use raw ingredients as much as possible to preserve all nutrients.
While nutrients can be altered in the cooking process, research indicates that while some nutrients lose some of their health benefits when heated, cooking can increase or enhance the beneficial properties of others.
For example, experiments have shown that when vegetables with vitamin C are boiled, the amount of vitamin C is significantly reduced, with much of it leaching into the boiling water.
But when tomatoes are cooked, the antioxidant lycopene is actually increased while the vitamin C is reduced. This means eating cooked tomatoes gives you more antioxidant properties than eating them raw.
Cooking can also make certain nutrients more bioavailable and digestible.
Based on available research, the recipes we’ve included in this article should provide you with the same nutrition level you’d get from taking the supplements directly. However, there is still debate over which nutrients may degrade when heated. You’ll still receive benefit, but it’s possible it could be greater or less than that received by the raw supplement. If this concerns you, stick with the recipes that don’t involve cooking or heating.
Be aware that if you’re using a single daily allowance of supplement in a recipe for multiple servings, you will only be getting a portion of your daily value in each serving, not the full amount.
Drinks
You can use Gaia supplements to create hot and cold infusions, smoothies, shakes, and mocktails. The sky's the limit based on the ingredients you have on hand, your taste, and the occasion. Here is a collection of warm, soothing drink recipes to satisfy any mood.
Hot Drinks
Flavor your coffee, hot chocolate, or tea with Gaia powders, tinctures, or syrups for a more satisfying way to keep warm on cold winter days — or even hot ones.
- Golden Milk: This drink, made from Gaia’s Golden Milk powder, combines the benefits of turmeric, Ashwagandha, and dates. Just add your favorite warm milk and enjoy.
- Traditional Golden Milk with Gaia Herbs: Add a pinch of saffron and a spoonful of honey to give your golden milk a taste boost. You can also add any herbal extract to this warm drink to suit your taste.
- Maca Matcha Latte: Maintain your health and energy by adding Gaia’s Maca Powder to your morning green tea sweetened with milk and sugar.
- Gaia Herbs and Yerba Mate Latte: Get a warm dose of immune and sinus support with a hot drink that combines Black Elderberry Syrup and Nettle Leaf with the milk of your choice.
- Pumpkin Spice Latte: It doesn’t have to be Thanksgiving to enjoy the sweetness of pumpkin puree and pie spice. These ingredients blend well with Gaia’s Golden Milk powder and a cup of coffee to create a warm beverage you may find addicting.
- Chocolate Peppermint Tea Latte: Less sweet than hot chocolate, this concoction will warm up your spirits any day. It gets its flavor from the peppermint leaf in the Gaia Herbs Liver Cleanse Tea you use to make it.
- Turmeric Chai Tea: Just three ingredients make this brew delightfully satisfying: Turmeric Boost Restore, black tea and almond milk.
- Black Elderberry Hot Toddy: Enjoy a warm and satisfying drink that combines Ginger Root, Black Elderberry, and Kava Root with fruit to support overall good health all winter long.*
Cold Drinks
Whether you like your smoothies green or with high-antioxidant fruit, adding supplements only makes them better. Many supplements also add a welcome kick to refreshing punches and mocktails.
- Salted Cacao Caramel Smoothie: Start your day with a smoothie that packs a lot of energy and protein into a single serving, using Maca Boost Cacao Ginger for extra energy and stamina support.
- Super Green Smoothie: Everyone has a green smoothie recipe they think is the best. But this one, with Maca Powder, may be even better.
- Minty Maca Shamrock Smoothie: You don’t have to wait for Saint Patrick’s Day to enjoy this refreshing drink, which combines Maca Powder and Peppermint Leaf Liquid Herbal Extract.
- Iced Golden Milk Latte: If it’s hot outside, why not enjoy your Golden Milk chilled? Make this cool twist on a classic hot drink a hot weather favorite.
- Peachie Keen Smoothie: Looking for a sweet way to get your daily dose of Turmeric? This simple smoothie recipe combines just the right fruits and flavors to blend with our TurmericBoost powder.
- Brightened-Up Mango Turmeric Smoothie: Tropical drinks make any day feel like summer. BlendingTurmericBoost with mangos, papayas, and pineapples makes taking this supplement pure joy.
- Maca Colada: Treat your friends to a creamy coconut and pineapple mocktail with the energy benefits of Maca Powder.
- Black Elderberry Fizz: A great mocktail for the holidays or any special occasion, this simple, healthy drink features Black Elderberry Syrup as its main ingredient.
Breakfast Options
If you like to start your day with something more substantial than a hot drink or smoothie, make one of these recipes your go-to breakfast.
- Overnight Oats with Turmeric Boost: Prepare this the night before and wake up to a bowl of goodness, made with Turmeric to help support a healthy inflammatory response.*
- Pumpkin Chia Pudding: For breakfast or a midday snack, this recipe with Turmeric Boost gives new flavor to a classic healthy pudding.
- Oatmeal Cookie Smoothie: Neither a drink nor a cereal, this recipe blends rolled oats with fruit, milk, and Turmeric Boost for a healthy breakfast treat.
- Acai Bowl: Maca powder, blended acai, berries, and bananas is great on its own, or even better topped with a fruit or nut garnish.
- Grain-free Pancakes: Make your pancakes with banana and eggs instead of flour, and then add Turmeric Boost to be ready for anything the day throws at you.
Savory and Sweet Snacks
Incorporate your herbal supplements into snacks to enjoy throughout the day. Many supplements are best taken with food, and if they’re already mixed in, you don’t have to worry about the right time to take them.
- No-Bake Chewy Maca Granola Bars: Everything about this recipe is healthy, with nuts, oats, seeds, and fruit. Add Maca Powder and you have the perfect energy-filled snack to enjoy any time of day.
- Turmeric Baked Falafel with Herbs: For a snack or a meal, falafel is big on nutrition as well as flavor. This recipe adds Turmeric Boost to make it all the healthier.
- Very Elderberry Fruit Strips: This one is for the kids. But you’ll have a hard time not eating them all yourself. The only ingredients in this recipe are fruit and Black Elderberry Syrup, making it a delicious and satisfying way for the whole family to ward off colds and support strong immune systems.
- Turmeric Mixed Nuts: A handful of nuts can be just the energy boost you need in the middle of the day when you start fading. This recipe calls for Turmeric Boost. But you can substitute or add Everyday Adaptogen with mushrooms and Ashwagandha to add flavor and additional energy support.
- Macamole: Add Maca Powder to your favorite guacamole recipe to energize this classic avocado appetizer. (You can add Maca to your favorite Hummus for the same energy boost.)
- Elderberry Gummies: Support the whole family’s immune health when you make this sweet and healthy snack with Black Elderberry Syrup.*
- Maca Chocolate Crackle: Satisfy your craving for chocolate with a recipe that pairs Maca Boost® Cacao Ginger with semisweet chocolate. It will be hard not to eat the whole recipe at once.
- Golden Milk Popsicles: Instead of enjoying your Golden Milk hot, these frozen treats give you a great way to get all the health benefits of Golden Milk in hot weather.
Salad Dressings
Salads are one of the healthiest meals, with lots of leafy green vegetables, legumes, nuts, and seeds. Salad dressings provide the perfect vehicle for the addition of Gaia Herbs’ supplements.
- Ginger Miso Dressing: Add Gaia Herbs Ginger Root liquid herbal extract to your miso dressing and use a simple green salad when your stomach is queasy. The extract is packed with flavor as well as healing properties.
- Cumin-Lime Turmeric Vinaigrette: Smoky cumin and tangy lime make this dressing the perfect addition to a green salad with avocado and citrus fruit. Adding Turmeric Boost puts your daily supplement into your salad.
Gaia Herbs is constantly updating our recipe list to give you new ideas on how to use herbal supplements in cooking. Check our blog often for new entries. Once you get comfortable adding supplements to our recipes, you can experiment with your own more confidently.