📢 Contest Announcement #5 : TELL US WHAT HEALTHY FOOD OR DRINK YOU LIKE AND RECIPES |Reward Pool :30 STEEM

INTRODUCTION

My warmest greetings to all amazing members of @steemhealthcare community. I trust we’re all doing great and keeping fit and safe.

I wish to commend the efforts of this amazing community @steemhealthcare, our wonderful @shc-curator and all hardworking Admins for making this community an outstanding one on this platform. Thank you so much.

It’s another exciting CONTEST#5 tagged TELL US WHAT FAVORITE DRINK OR FOOD YOU LIKE AND RECIPES which is aimed at inciting members to present their creativity, knowledge and expertise in their chosen drinks and food.

My favorite food and drink that I want to share with all us is Okra Soup.

OKRA
The Okra plant is vegetable and one of the most nutritious vegetables that most people have not discovered.
They are in season now, so I cook them often before they become gold 😀.

Okra also known as Ladies 🙄 is a typical edible fruit but are used as vegetables.
They grow in pod and can be found in warm climate areas like Africa and some Asia Countries.

**(My parents will always make references and proverbs about the Okra plant each time we misbehaved as teens, “An Okra plant can never out grow the one who planted it and I will just stare at the innocent Okra plants beside our house in mockery 😏).

But I have grown to find more meaning to those proverbs and I most confess that our parents are legendary. 🤗**

Okra is low in calories and packed with many vitamins like;

• Vitamin A for good eye sight or Vision.

• Vitamin C for building the body immunity against diseases, for healing of wounds and for quick recovery from illnesses.

• Vitamin K which helps the body to maintain the heart health and for blood clotting.

• Okra is also rich in folate which is more reason why it is highly recommended in pregnancy because folate helps to reduce or prevent neural tube defects in babies while still in the tummy.
  This neutral tube defect can affect the brain and spine of babies. (I can’t forget those experiences when pregnant 🤰. I always had Okra in my kitchen and I chew it at will and everyone will making faces but I just enjoyed my Okra)🤣

• Okra has Antioxidants (these are chemical compounds that help our bodies to fight free radicals which are molecules that can damage our body cells and even lead to cancer like the breast cancer).

• As choristers, we are instructed to wash Okra very well with clean water and salt to get rid of dirts and chew raw to maintain sonorous voices.

African Spinach

This is a green leafy vegetables. They are good sources of essential minerals such as zinc, potassium, calcium, phosphorus, folate, iron, manganese and Vitamins such as Vitamin A, B6, C and E.

They help with;

• Weight loss

• Good eye sight

• Healthy hair and skin care

• Immunity building

• Supporting healthy bones

• Preventing constipation and aids digestion

• Blood building

• Managing blood pressure and above all, promoting healthy pregnancy 🤰 source

TOMATOES🍅

Tomatoes are versatile and are widely consumed both for their nutritional values and for skin care.
They contain high amounts of water and are very juicy. 😋

~ Tomatoes contain potassium which helps the heart in the circulation of blood.

~ They are rich in fiber that prevents constipation and aids in the digestion of food in the human body.

~ These red jewels are also rich in Vitamin A which help to improve vision and fight free radicals in our bodies.

~ They are rich in iron for for blood building, Vitamin K for controlling bleeding, Vitamin C for immunity and Vitamin A for improving vision too just like Okra fruits.

~ In skin care, they are used in anti-aging products, used to treat sun burn, to lighten and brighten the skin and my favorite part, as facial mask smooth and clean face ✨source

ONIONS(That bulb that flogs me without cane) 🥺 Any ways, that’s because they help to improve my vision.

• They help in respiration by relaxing respiratory nerves because of their flavors 👍

• Onions help in oral health because they are rich in Vitamin C.

• They have high volume of calcium that support healthy bones🦴

• Onions are very useful in skin care too, they are used in combating acne if you combine them in your facials.

• They contain antibacterial properties that help to live and dandruff in the hair. Onions juice when apple in hair helps in hair growth.

• Onions helps in treating erectile malfunctions in men because it increases testosterone. FACT.

• They help to fight heart attacks because they are more like blood thinners.

• They’re immunity giants more reasons they were likely gold during the Covid-19 heat.source

Please, forget the smell of the onions and consume them for their health benefits. They are superfoods and offer massive health support 🙏
( My usual adage, eat the meat and give me the onions 😁 but meats are precious too).

SCOTCH BONNET PEPPER🥵
A lot of people classify pepper as just spice but they are more than that.

• They one of the best antioxidants available. They are rich in Vitamins and other minerals too.

• They are useful for our bones, our respiration, our hair, skin etc. source

The African Oil Bean Seeds

The African oil bean seed or Ugba as we call in my local dialect (Igbo language) is gotten from the oil bean tree.

They grow pods and have to go through various processes before they are considered as edible.

• They’re use nutritional supplements especially in blood building.

• They help to prevent heart failure.

• They help to support healthy bones.

• They help to build immunity.

SWEET POTATOES🍠

Sweet potatoes are tubers just like yam but sweet as the name implies.

• They’re super free radicals fighters and are high in fiber.

• Potatoes are rich in Vitamins B too and they provide the body with energy.

• Their skins are packed with potassium which helps to lower blood pressure by cleansing the body of excess fluids and useless sodium.

I do not peel my potatoes before cooking because of these nutritional values. source

<centerPALM OIL

Palm oil is gotten from the Oil palm tree fruits. It helps the body in maintaining Vitamin A, controlling blood pressure and cholesterol.

• It is used in weight loss management.

• It helps in anti-aging and vastly used in skin care products.

Palm oil is obtained from the fruit of the oil palm tree.

Palm oil is used for preventing vitamin A deficiency, cancer, brain disease, aging; and treating malaria, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, and cyanide poisoning.
Palm oil is used for weight loss and increasing the body's metabolism.

Okra soup is made in different ways in my country but I choose to make it healthy way so I harness and enjoy all nutritional benefits embedded in them.

This how I make mine.

INGREDIENTS

• Fresh Okra Seeds

• Fresh tomatoes

• African spinach or Green Amaranth

• Palm oil

• Some crayfish

• African oil bean seeds

• Scotch bonnet pepper or Atarodo

• Some balls of onions

• Salt to taste

First, I prepare and all get all my ingredients ready for gracing my pot by;

• wash my Okra with clean water and salt and slice to my desired shape and size.

• I pick, wash my green Amaranth with water and salt and chop them.

• I peel, wash and slice my onions.

• I wash and grate my Atarodo, I use plenty of this to spice up my soup.

• I wash and set aside my African oil bean seeds.
This has to go through many processes of picking, cooking, slicing and fermentation before it can be edible but I got the already made one.

COOKING PROCEDURES

• I place my pot on my stove and add about half cup of water and add my oil bean seeds some onions and salt to cook on medium heat for about five minutes.

• I then add tomatoes and oil and cook for another five minutes.

• Then add the Okra, green Amaranth and the remaining onions and cook for just three minutes and my soup is ready.

Then I proceed to wash and cut my potatoes into smaller sizes and cook properly.

This will take approximately fifteen minutes.

I bring it down and let it cool. Then I peel off the skins before serving with my Okra soup.

Just take a look at my dish. The land is green, Sweet, spicy🥵, juicy and yum yum 😋.

Okra soup is my favorite because it contains lots of vegetables and it’s rich in the essential nutrients and vitamins that my body system requires to function effectively.

My favorite fruit drink 🍹 is orange juice.

Orange juice is made from orange fruits.
Oranges grow on trees. They are round in shape, green when unripe and yellow in color when ripe. Oranges are of the citrus 🍊 family. Some oranges are sweet while some have sour taste.

Oranges have all the Vitamin C that the body needs to build immunity and fight cancer producing free radicals.

Juicing Procedures
So I make my orange juice by peeling the skins off the oranges,

cutting them into two and

squeezing them to bring out the juice.

My sweet and nutritious orange drink

I invite my friends @gracie20, @peachyladiva and @beewrites to join this contest.

Special Mention
@steemhealthcare
@shc-curator
@imamalkimas
@mudajuli
@ahyar92
@lidiasteem
@goodybest