Prize: One superfood goodie bag full of amazing superfood bounty! Inside this incredible package is essentially a free ticket to vitality: A bag of delicious and anti-aging Navitas Naturals Mulberries; antioxidant and energy-giving Cacao Powder; immunity-boosting, vitamin C powerhouse Camu Berry Powder; and a shiny new copy of my hardbound, photo-rich cookbook Superfood Cuisine — that contains over 100 superfood recipes! Whoever wins this is going to be SET UP superfood-style. This is so much fun!

To enter: You can earn up to 4 entries by leaving a separate comment for each task you’ve done below:

1) Follow me on twitter @greenjules (Already follow? You can leave a comment telling me so and still earn an entry.)

2) Tweet: Just entered @greenjules Flash Superfood Giveaway – http://www.juliemorris.net/2011/12/16/flash-superfood-giveaway/

3) Tag the “Superfood Cuisine with Julie Morris” Facebook Page in a status update motivating your friends and family to celebrate a healthy new year. (Ex: “Looking forward to making one recipe a week from Superfood Cuisine with Julie Morris starting January 1 … who wants to come over to share?”)

4) Tell me in a comment below, how are you giving the gift of health this holiday to others? Are you bringing a healthy dessert to work? Stuffing a stocking with a bag of sweet cacao nibs? Giving someone a beautiful copy of Superfood Cuisine for recipe inspiration? (You can purchase signed copies here on this site until 12/18 at midnight, or buy on Amazon.) Tell me what you’ve done to “share the health” this holiday.

Contest closes Sunday, December 18 at 9:00 AM PST sharp. Winning comment will be drawn at random the same day. Open to North American residents only. Good luck!

UPDATE: CONTEST IS NOW CLOSED.

The new best friends of beauty don’t come from a tube (or a pill, or an infomercial, or the, er, “special doctor”). The beauty boost you’ve been looking for comes straight from the kitchen! A radiant exterior starts with a well-nourished body, and while there are many foods that offer beautifying benefits, nutrient-dense superfoods are ideal for getting that long-term glow. Add these 5 extraordinary foods to your diet for the healthiest (and most delicious!) beauty upgrade ever:

Hemp Seeds
Among their many benefits, hemp seeds are an exceptionally rich source of essential fatty acids (EFAs). EFAs serve as a crucial element in the development of new cells by helping to compose the cell membrane itself. Because the cells that compose our body’s exterior have an especially high turnover rate, eating foods with quality EFAs influences an increase in renewed and vibrant skin, hair, nails, etc. Hemp seeds also supply a good source of Vitamin E, the famous beauty nutrient known for its natural moisturizing and anti-aging qualities.
Try them in: Hemp Hummus

Wheatgrass Juice or Powder
Being a potent natural source of chlorophyll (the green “blood” of plants), wheatgrass is profoundly alkaline. This quality means wheatgrass assists in increasing circulation, promotes detoxification of impurities, neutralizes acids and toxins, and at the same time replenishes cells with essential minerals. While all this beneficial activity builds a clean body internally, these perks also translate to vibrant, lustrous skin and bright, clear eyes.
Try it in: Green Energy Bars

Berries
Nutrient-dense berries such as strawberries, blackberries, goji berries, or acai berries share a common benefit: concentrated antioxidants. Antioxidants help fight free radicals in the body, thus providing defense against cellular oxidation (disease and aging). Consistent consumption of high antioxidant foods can delay signs of aging by keeping the body’s cell structure strong on both the inside and out. Eating these “superberries” can be especially helpful in preventing the acceleration of skin damage (like wrinkles!), as well as delaying (even reversing, according to some reports) graying hair.
Try them in: Indigo Granita Dessert

Camu Camu
As the world’s highest known source of Vitamin C, camu berries are a standout superfood in a beautifying diet. Vitamin C plays a crucial role in beauty because in addition to contributing to tissue growth, this nutrient is also essential for the formation of collagen – a protein responsible for giving skin its elastic quality (among many other things!). Plus, being an antioxidant in and of itself, Vitamin C is another premium tool in the anti-aging arsenal. Consuming vitamin C in a natural, whole food form like camu (as opposed to a synthetic vitamin pill) ensures this helpful nutrient is digested and assimilated by the body to the fullest extent.
Try it in: Camu Berry Lemonade, from Superfood Cuisine: Cooking With Nature’s Most Amazing Foods

Coconut Oil
Granted, coconut oil may not be a superfood per se, but its incredible benefits earn it a paramount position in the natural beauty regimen. When enjoyed as a food, coconut oil makes a nutritious cooking oil full of energy-giving medium chain fatty acids that are easily (and deliciously) used in place of harmful fats. Used externally, coconut oil serves as nature’s premier moisturizing lotion – an ideal remedy for dry or wrinkled skin. Rubbed on the body or face, the smooth oil is easily absorbed, softens the skin, and provides an instant radiance.
Try it in: Heavenly Baked Delecata Squash

These foods can be sourced at natural food stores, through various web-based retailers, or through my online shop.

I wonder, will you secretly judge me if I admit to you that I don’t really like pie? Every year I’m reminded of my pie-oriented “skeleton in the oven,” thanks to all the holiday festivities. You can usually spot me fighting a cringe, as one pie after the next is passed before me, and I have to spontaneously compose a new, polite way to decline.

I can’t help it — I don’t like traditional pastry crust (boring), I don’t like perfectly good fruits smothered in some sugar goo, and I’m terribly sorry, but that pretty lattice pattern adorning the top isn’t going to do anything to get me more excited. Luckily there is, however, one exception to my no-pie rule: pumpkin pie.

I really get amped over a good pumpkin pie. (To be honest, I invariably get amped over a good pumpkin “anything.”) But as much my love is genuine, I can’t help but feel our favorite orange globes have enjoyed a little too much pop-star-style dependence in the winter squash world. Pumpkins continually overshadow a vast, deliciously endowed, and diverse spectrum of beautiful winter squash, time and time again in recipes.

But not this year.

I don’t know who decides the “chic food trends,” but nonetheless this has really been the year of winter squash. These different “pumpkin cousins” have been the new darlings of farmer’s markets and chefs alike, and I am all too happy to participate in the fun. I have so many favorites: delicata, butternut, acorn, and for making pies, the undeniable winner in my book is kabocha squash — aka the “Japanese Pumpkin.”

With a pumpkin-esque shape, and bright beautiful orange flesh, kabocha appears to be very similar to a traditional pumpkin, with the exception of its dark green exterior skin. Where it really trumps other pumpkins though, is in its flavor. Kabocha is one of the most inherently flavorful squashes of all — which makes it ideal for a pie! What I love most about it though, is that it enables using a fraction of the amount of sweetener compared to a traditional pie recipe . . . and in this case that sweetener is healthy molasses-like yacon syrup. Together, these ingredients ensure that this pumpkin pie is not only superbly tasty, but that it also has something to truly be thankful for: health! Now that’s my kinda pie.

Here’s the Japanese Pumpkin Pie (kabocha squash) RECIPE.

Lemon Coconut Breakfast Bars

Not too sweet, these one-layer moist lemon bars are an excellent grab-and-go energy snack at any time of the day.

Ingredients:
1½ Tbsp chia seeds
3 Tbsp fresh lemon juice
1 cup oat flour
½ tsp baking powder
pinch sea salt
¾ cup + 2 Tbsp shredded dried coconut, divided
2 Tbsp lemon zest
2 Tbsp coconut oil, melted
2 Tbsp applesauce
¼ cup maple syrup or agave nectar
½ cup packed soft medjool or honey dates, pitted (about 8-9)

Directions:
Preheat the oven to 300 degrees. Grease a 8×8” baking pan.

In a small bowl, combine the lemon juice and chia seeds. Set aside for 20 minutes.

Meanwhile, in a medium bowl mix together the oat flour, baking powder, salt, and ¾ cup coconut flakes. Sprinkle in the lemon zest and mix again until distributed.

In a separate bowl, combine the coconut oil, apple sauce, and agave nectar. Mix in the soaked chia seeds. Chop the pitted medjool dates finely, and mix in with the other wet ingredients.

Pour the wet ingredients into the dry, and stir until blended. Spread the mixture into the prepared baking pan, and use a spatula to flatten out the surface. Sprinkle remaining 2 Tbsp coconut on top, patting them down lightly into the mixture.
Bake for 25-28 minutes, until edges begin to turn golden brown. Cut while warm into squares. Makes 16 2”x2” squares.

Raw Acai from navitasnaturals.com

I had every intention of going for a run this afternoon. Got my tank and shorts on, tied up my shoelaces, cued up my stopwatch. But a great idea is not always on schedule, and right as I took a step outside the front door, it hit me: Acai fudge. Wow. I bet I could make a killer acai fudge.

Now, I may be young, but I’m wise enough to know that some things in life must not be kept waiting. Things, that is, such as a really great idea. Or fudge. Being both in this case, I kicked off my running shoes without hesitation and marched back inside to the kitchen.

Afore-mentioned Great Idea soon turned into even Greater Fruition, and soon I found myself in the company of THE most divine little fudgey rich berry squares. Let me tell you, this is delicious company of mine did not last.

Later, my postponed run felt absolutely amazing. Thanks mighty acai with all your antioxidants and energy-rich healthy fats. Clearly we are friends.

Don’t pass this recipe by – it’s absolutely awesome: ACAI FUDGE RECIPE