Vanilla Almond Green Breakfast Bowl

Mmmmm my absolute favourite breakfast any day of the week.  Actually…I would eat this for breakfast, lunch and dinner if I could.

This recipe is based on the Oh She Glows Milli Vanilli Green Monster that I made into a breakfast bowl.  I haven’t tried all of her variations of green monsters yet, but so far this is my favourite. The key to the yummy almondie-goodness is the almond extract! Don’t skip that out ;)

Makes 1 serving      Total Time – 5-10 minutes

Ingredients for Smoothie 

1. 1 cup spinach or kale
2. 1/4 cup almond milk
3. 1 tbsp vanilla protein powder
4. 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
5. 1/4 tsp almond extract
6. 1 tbsp almond butter
7. 1-2 drops stevia
8. 1 tsp ground flaxseeds
9. 2 tsp coconut butter (optional)

Ingredients for Breakfast Bowl

1. 1-2 tbsp chia seeds
2. 1 tbsp hemp hearts
3. 1-2 tsp cinnamon
4. 1/2 banana, sliced
5. any fresh berries or fruit you want
6. 1/4 cup quinoa granola (or any type of granola)
7. Optional toppings – coconut flakes, sliced almonds, cashews, etc

Directions

• Blend up all the smoothie ingredients.  Start with just a small amount of almond milk and add more as needed. It should be pretty thick!
• Pour into a bowl and top with your breakfast bowl ingredients. YUM!

Sausage Spinach Stuffed Mushrooms

Oh my goodness it’s already APRIL!?!? What the hell…where did March go? We got a tiny taste of spring and after a few gorgeous, sunny days in Vancouver, it’s (of course) raining again :( booooo! At least it gives me a bit more motivation to stay inside and study for finals/write my two massive papers that I haven’t started and are due in less than a week. Eeeeeeeek stress times ten right now!

Doesn’t stop me from making delicious healthy dinners though. I actually made this stuffed mushroom dish about a week ago for my mum and I. I gotta say…it was pretty fantastic. Paired with a yummy salad, we had the perfect meal :) And since I didn’t finish mine, leftovers for lunch the next day was great!

The inspiration for this recipe came from the Practical Paleo cookbook. Such an amazing book full of great recipes.  I highly recommend it! Especially if you’re a meat lover ;)

Makes 4 mushrooms        Prep Time – 20 minutes        Cooking Time – 30 minutes

Ingredients

1. 4 portobello mushrooms
2. 1 tbsp coconut oil
3. 1/2 medium onion, chopped
4. 2 cloves garlic
5. 1 bell pepper, chopped
6. 2 large sausages
7. 2 cups spinach or kale, chopped
8. 1 tsp chipotle powder
9. 1/8 tsp chili powder
10. 1/2 tsp cumin
11. pinch of salt and pepper

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees.
2. Clean the mushrooms, remove the stems and some of the gills, and place face down on a baking sheet. Pop in the oven for 10 minutes.
3. While the mushrooms are in the oven, you can start to make your filling. In a pan over medium heat, sauté the onions and garlic in the coconut oil until they are clear and soft.
4. Take the sausage out of the casing and add to the pan. I just cut lengthwise down the sausage, then squeeze out the meatiness. Also add in all your spices now. Cook for about 5 minutes, stirring occasionally until the meat is almost cooked through.
5. Throw in the bell pepper and cook for another couple minutes.
6. Next, add in the spinach and stir around until it’s wilted.
7. Now you’re ready to assemble. Spoon the mixture into the mushrooms and place them back on the baking sheet. Pop them back into the oven and cook for about 15 minutes. Enjoy!!

 

Kale Caesar Salad

I saw this recipe on Instagram and was instantly in love! I made it that night for dinner along with some baked chicken and was AMAZED! Even Cale said it tasted almost exactly like regular, unhealthy caesar salad dressing.  Woohoo – that’s definitely a win in my books.

I used to absolutely LOVE caesar salad but gave up eating it because it’s just soooo unhealthy.  It’s amazing that there are healthy substitutes for almost all the comfort foods out there.  It just takes some time to experiment and be creative in the kitchen with clean recipes :)

Note – Don’t skip out the nutritional yeast in this dressing – it’s really what gives it that classic caesar salad parmesan taste.  Nutritional yeast is found in the bulk section of pretty much any grocery store.

Ingredients for Dressing

• 1 ripe avocado
• 4 cloves minced garlic or 1 head of roasted garlic
• 1/4 cup water
• 1 tbsp dijon mustard
• 2 tbsp nutritional yeast
• 1 tbsp apple cider vinegar
• 1/4 cup lemon juice
• 1/4 cup water
• pinch of unrefined salt and black pepper

Ingredients for Salad

• Spinach or any type of lettuce
• Kale
• Asparagus, steamed (optional)
• Green onions, chopped

Directions

1. Throw all the dressing ingredients in a blender and pulse until just combined.  The more you blend it, the fluffier it will get because of the avocado.
2. To make the salad, wash the kale and dry it with a paper towel.  Massage the kale until it becomes soft.  Throw it into a large bowl.  Add some caesar dressing in and give it a good mix and press the dressing into the leaves.  I let this sit for about 10 minutes while I was chopping up the other veggies to let the kale absorb the flavours from the dressing (and really so it tastes less bitter and well…like kale).
3. Throw in the remaining salad ingredients into the bowl and toss. Add more dressing if needed.

Cale and Shasta on our hike up Quarry Rock in North Van 

Sausage and Egg Mexican Breakfast Wraps

Wow thank god exams and school are DONE!!! Well at least for a few weeks…. Things got so busy at the beginning of December I think I ate baked chicken breast and steamed veggies for every meal :S sooooo boring!! And I didn’t get to create any new recipes to share. So I had a lot of fun making these wraps for Cale one morning.  I thought he needed a change from his usual breakfast hash that he requests every morning.  These little breakfast delights are super tasty! And really filling.  Great for lunch as well.  Enjoy :)

Makes 2 wraps (one large serving or two smaller ones)    Prep Time – 10 min    Cooking Time – 10 min

Ingredients

• 2 eggs
• 1 chicken sausage
• 1/2 red pepper, diced
• 1/4 cup onion, diced
• 1/4 cup green onion, chopped
• 1/8 cup cilantro, chopped finely
• handful of spinach or kale, chopped very fine (optional for added nutrition)
• 1/2 tsp cumin
• 1/2 tsp cajun spice
• 2 whole grain tortillas
• 1/2 an avocado
• salsa

Directions

1. In pan over medium heat, start cooking up the sausage.  I like to remove the meat from the casing and cook it up that way.
2. While the sausage is cooking, crack the eggs into a bowl and give them a good whisk.  Add in the red pepper, onion, green onion, cilantro, and spinach, cumin and cajun spice. Mix up until well combined.
3. Once the sausage is almost done cooking, add the egg mixture into the pan.  Keep stirring until everything is all cooked up.
4. To assemble the wraps, place half the egg and sausage mixture into the middle of each wrap.  Top with some avocado and salsa.  ENJOY :)

Kale Quinoa Salad w/ Pine Nuts and Feta

My lovely, beautiful sister made this salad for a family BBQ.  Thank god she made a ton because I seriously couldn’t get enough of it!! I was eating leftover quinoa for about 5 days after :) It was so flavourful! This recipe is a definite keeper.

Ingredients

• 4 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
• 1 onion, minced
• 2 cups quinoa
• 1 1/2 cups water
• 3 cups chopped kale, washed and taken off the stem
• 1/3 cup red wine vinegar
• 1 tsp Dijon mustard
• 1/2 cup toasted pine nuts
• 1/2 cup feta cheese (I used goat feta)
• unrefined salt and black pepper to taste

Directions

• In a medium pot over medium heat, add 1 tbsp olive oil.  Sauté the onion for about 5 minutes or until translucent.  Next, add the quinoa keep stirring for about 2 – 3 minutes until lightly toasted.
• Add the water and kale.  Bring to a simmer, cover, and cook for about 15 minutes or until all the water has been absorbed.  Remove from heat and pour quinoa into a bowl.  Stir occasionally.
• To make the sauce, whisk together the vinegar and mustard in a small bowl.  Add a pinch of salt and pepper.  Slowing add 3 tbsp olive oil while whisking.
• Pour the dressing over the quinoa and give it a good stir. Next, stir in the pine nuts and feta cheese.  ENJOY!  You can serve this salad warm or cold it’s up to you!

Original Recipe: from Epicurious

Warm Lentil & Kale Bowl w/ Poached Egg

Wow…where the hell did summer go?! It disappeared in a day! Amanda and I were absolutely cooking out for a run on Friday and now it’s freezing and raining! I needed something to warm me up last night for dinner and barely had any groceries in the house…so this is what I came up with. It sounds a bit weird but it was actually pretty good! Simple, easy, HEALTHY dinner :) ENJOY!

Ingredients

• 1 tsp olive oil
• 1 carrot, chopped
• 1/4 onion, chopped
• 1/4 head of cauliflower, chopped
• 1 garlic clove, minced
• 2 large stems of kale, chopped (remove stems)
• 1 can lentils
• 1 bay leaf
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 2 cups chicken broth (organic, low sodium)
• pepper to taste
• 2 eggs

Directions

1. In a medium saucepan or pot, heat up the olive oil. Add the carrot, onion, cauliflower and garlic and sauté for about 5 – 8 minutes.
2. Add the kale and continue to cook until the leaves wilt (about 3 minutes).
3. Next, add the lentils, bay leaf and chicken broth and bring mixture to a boil.  Cover and let simmer for about 30 minutes.
4. Poach up your eggs once the lentils are done and you’re good to go. Salt and pepper to taste. You can also serve this with a scoop of brown rice if you like.

Note – you can use whatever vegetables you have in your fridge that need to be used up

DETOX DAY 19 – Beet, Carrot and Spinach Smoothie

WOW.  Words honestly cannot even describe how AMAZING this juice/smoothie is.  I’m totally head over heels in love <3

The great thing about this detox is that I’ve had to try soooo many new things.  Some good…some not so much :S But I’m out of my old routine and experimented with lots of new ingredients.  Plus I feel fantastic!  Can’t ask for more than that!

This recipe makes enough juice for a few smoothies – in case you want to save the extra juice and make another smoothie tomorrow :) It takes a little bit more time to make the juice and clean the juicer etc, so that’s why I make extra juice!

Ingredients for Juice

• 3 beets
• 3 ribs of celery
• 10 carrots
• 1 lemon
• 3 stems of kale

Ingredients for Smoothie

• 1/2 banana
• 1/4 cup vanilla rice milk
• handful of spinach
• 1 tsp honey
• 1 – 2 cinnamon
• vanilla hemp protein
• 1 tsp ground flax (optional)

Directions

1. Juice all of the juice ingredients.  Make sure you wash the veggies carefully before juicing them – otherwise all the dirt thats on outside will be in your juice.
2. Pour 1/3 – 1/2 of the beautiful pink juice into a blender.  Add more juice if you’re not using rice milk. Then add remaining smoothie ingredients.  Blend it up and enjoy!!

DETOX DAY 4 – Veggie, Chicken & Egg Stack

Woke up on day 4 feeling FANTASTIC!!! The last few days I’ve had a headache and low energy, but not today! Thank goodness. Amanda (Krystalfit) felt the same way when she got up this morning too!  The fruit cravings are starting to die down as well.  I still don’t have quite as much energy for my workouts as I usually do, but that’s not a big deal for a few weeks :) I guess it’s ok to only do one workout a day for a while… :P

The thing I’m enjoying most about this detox (other then feeling great) is it’s forcing me to be super creative in the kitchen! I’m loving the new challenge. I found a meal similar to this protein stack on Pinterest and switched it up to fit with my detox diet. I liked it so much yesterday, I had it again today for lunch :) YUM! Lots of protein and veggies. I’m also not used to cooking with lots of lemon so this is a nice change.

VEGGIE, CHICKEN & EGG STACK

Makes 1 serving        Prep Time: 5 min      Cooking Time: 5 – 10 min

Ingredients

• 8 spears of asparagus
• kale (one stem) or spinach (two handfuls)
• 1/2 – 1 chicken breast (cooked)
• 1 – 2 eggs
• few slices of avocado
• juice of half a lemon
• salt and pepper, to taste

Directions

• Heat a pan to medium-low heat. Cut up the asparagus into bite size pieces. If using kale, chop up finely.
• Drizzle a little olive oil on the pan and add the asparagus (and kale if using). Cook for a few minutes and squeeze a bit of lemon juice on top.  Season with salt and pepper. Then, add a tiny bit of water to the pan, cover with a lid, and let steam for another few minutes.
• If using spinach, add when the asparagus is 1 minute away from being done.  Once the spinach is wilted, remove from the pan and serve on a plate.
• Slice up the chicken breast and place on top of the veggies.
• Drizzle the pan with a little bit more olive oil and crack your egg(s) into the pan.  Cook for a few minutes on one side, then flip and cook for less then a minute on the other side.
• Once the egg is cooked, serve on top of the chicken breast on the plate.  Squeeze the rest of the lemon juice on top and serve with a few slices of avocado on the side.  Ahhhh so good!!

Kale Chips

I’m not too sure why I’ve never written down this recipe. I make these chips all the time! I needed a good snack to have while on my 21-day detox, so kale chips are the perfect salty solution :) I’ve found they work better with dinosaur kale rather then the frilly regular kind.  ENJOY!

Ingredients

• organic dinosaur kale
• olive oil
• unrefined salt
• cajun spice (optional)

Directions

• Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Wash the kale thoroughly, dry it and peel off the stem.
• Rip into chip size pieces and place on a greased baking sheet.  Lightly drizzle olive oil and salt.
• Bake for about 6 minutes or until crispy. Done :)

Zucchini & Sweet Potato Latkes

I found this recipe on Pinterest one night when I had a zucchini and a sweet potato and no clue what to make! They actually turned out pretty good! Not substantial enough for a dinner but a fantastic side dish or even an appie :) Enjoy!

Prep Time: 10 min        Cooking time: 5-8 minutes        Makes about 5 latkes

Ingredients

1. 1/2 a zucchini
2. 1/2 a sweet potato
3. 1 large egg (or 2 tbsp egg whites)
4. 1 tbsp coconut flour or almond flour
5. 1/4 cup kale, finely chopped
6. 1/2 tsp garlic powder
7. 1/4 tsp cumin
8. 1/2 tsp dried parsley
9. salt and pepper to taste

Directions

1. Grate the zucchini and the sweet potato into a medium size bowl. Add in the remaining ingredients and mix it around.
2. With your hands, form the mixture into 5 equally sized patties.
3. Place latkes on a medium heat pan misted with some olive oil. Cover with a lid and cook for about 3 minutes or until bottom is golden brown. Flip over and cook for another few minutes until the other side is golden brown too :)
4. Serve up on a plate with some tzatziki, just plain greek yogurt or a bit of goat cheese crumbled on top. DELICIOUS!