Category: food

Cacao + Greens Post Sweat Smoothie

Hello readers, I’m back from vacation and I’m bringing you a delicious, refreshing smoothie recipe to celebrate my return! Back from the mountains and so happy to be returning to the KITCHEN (and my dogs and normal, convenient showers), hopefully this chocolatey smoothie will make up for my absence.

The other afternoon I was looking for a chocolate-y treat to get me through the afternoon slump, but I had just worked out so I did not want to get sugar-crazy. My savior? Amazing Grass Chocolate Greens!
SmoothieIngredients
I have to admit that the first time I tried mixing this green powder I had trouble masking the taste of the greens and enhancing the chocolate flavor I love so much. With some experimenting, I found a decadent combination. I can’t wait for you to try it.

Ahhh, Green Powders – a love/hate relationship. I don’t always rely on green powders for my smoothies. Truthfully, I like having control over what greens/veggies go into my smoothie and the powders don’t always taste great. Still, they offer a lot of convenient if I’m low on produce, I’m in a hurry or like today, when I want CHOCOLATE FLAVORED GREENS! Because chocolate is the best. Duh

Cacao + Greens Post-Sweat Smoothie

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Ingredients
1 scoop Amazing Grass Chocolate Greens Powder (on Amazon)
1-2 scoops Further Food Collagen (on Amazon)
1 TB cacao nibs (I like this brand)
1/2 cup coconut milk (I like this one)
1.5 cups filtered water
1/4 frozen banana
1 cup ice
Directions
Place all ingredients in a high-powered blender and blend until consistently mixed. Smoothie should be a frosty texture, if not just add 1/2 cup ice or extra frozen banana to get a thicker smoothie.

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Easy 4-Ingredient Honey-Glazed Carrots

This week I’m giving some major face time to a vegetable that’s most known for sitting it out in the sidelines. In the band, but never the star of the show. Always the bridesmaid, never the bride. If you haven’t guessed (as if the name doesn’t give it away), I am referring to carrots! We always have carrots in our house. I like to toss them into my mixed green salads, chop them up for dipping, or even throw them into my egg casseroles and soups. This time, though, I made them their very own side dish.

As simple as it seems, I have tried many times to perfect glazed carrots and they never seemed to come out how I wanted. They were either too dry, too greasy, or too tough despite cooking for 30+ minutes. After some experimenting, I finally have the right combination of sweetness, not too greasy or “wet” and the perfect amount of cooked through without being mushy! Just a side note, the latter will always depend on how evenly you quarter the carrots and the overall thickness of the carrots.

EasyHoneyGlazedCarrotsPrep

Here’s my secret to the BEST tasting carrots – choose organic. There are so many other reasons to choose organic (over conventionally-farmed) produce but in the case of these guys, the natural sugars are much more distinguishable and pleasing on the palate. You can taste this difference the most when they’re raw of course, but I’m convinced this translates to cooked carrots also.

EasyHoneyGlazedCarrotsSliced

My motto in the kitchen is dirty up as little as possible while being as efficient as possible. Therefore, for recipes like this one that are pretty simple I do not always measure exact teaspoons each time. Every 3rd or 4th time I cook (NOT bake) for myself I will test my “eyeballing” skills and they’re usually spot on. If you’re not comfortable with eyeballing our your measurements for items such as olive oil and honey yet then no sweat. Simply place your carrots in a large bowl and measure out oil and honey, stirring for an even coat before placing onto nonstick baking surface.
Now, let’s get cooking!
What You Need
Whole, organic carrots
Organic Extra virgin olive oil (I like this brand!)

Easy 4-Ingredient Honey-Glazed Carrots

EasyHoneyGlazedCarrots

Ingredients
  • 1 pound carrots, rinsed and quartered
  • 2 TB EVOO
  • 1 TB honey
  • Pinch sea salt

Directions

1. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.
2. Prep carrots by giving them a good rinse, using a vegetable brush if you have one. No peeling necessary! Chop the tops off and quarter into even slices the best you can. Place slices in a pile on your cookie sheet or baking dish.
3. Pour olive oil over top of carrot pile and very carefully mix them together. Use your hands to get carrots evenly coated, which will ensure they glaze up perfectly. Spread carrots in a single layer across cooking surface.
4. Drizzle honey in a sweeping motion across carrots. Use a spoon to stir carrots, if necessary.
5. Place carrots in the oven for 25 – 30 minutes. Check at halftime and stir/flip carrots if it looks like some are roasting at a faster rate than others.
6. Serve warm with your favorite entree. Enjoy.
Ideas for Leftovers: These go surprisingly well with breakfast the next day.

 

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Paleo Salmon Cakes

This week I’m sharing with you a recipe that is a healthy spin on an old family classic. Gluten free and paleo-friendly, you probably have all the ingredients in your fridge right now for a last-minute dinner. The recipe also doubles well for a Meal Prep Sunday favorite!

On Sundays, I enjoy setting some time aside to plan out my meals. I always make my grocery list after I pick what dishes I’ll be cooking up along with some snack ideas so I have every ingredient on-hand throughout the week. This recipe for healthier salmon cakes is special in that it probably only requires 1 special ingredient to put on my grocery list à canned wild-caught salmon! Pantry-stable and more affordable than fresh salmon from the seafood counter, canned wild-caught salmon is a great protein option packed with healthy fats for a double-punch. This is a great main entrée to slide into meal plan rotation when you want to cut down on that weekly grocery expense without skimping on nutrition or taste.

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Growing up, my mom would reach for that can of salmon for a quick and easy weeknight recipe. Warm and delicious, I still consider them one of my favorite meals of childhood especially with a side of green peas and lots of mustard. What a combination.

Luckily, it doesn’t take much to tweak a traditional salmon cake to a healthier version. First and foremost, you’ll want to get a high-quality fish which means that your fish should be sustainably sourced and wild-caught. Classic mayonnaise and breadcrumbs are substituted with an avocado-oil based mayo and ground flax to keep the recipe clean while providing creating a good base to keep the cakes together during cooking.

My favorite way to cook these up is to use my Lodge Cast Iron Skillet (linked at the bottom of the page). First, I like to sear the top, bottom and edges. Next, I will finish them up in the oven to cook them throughout. Don’t have a Lodge? No sweat! Use your favorite nonstick skillet. I have also tried cooking the cakes completely on the stovetop, but I have found it’s much less babysitting to just sear them and pop in the oven to finish out the cooking process while doing other things.

Have you ever used canned salmon before? If not, then you may be in for a surprise the first time you pop your can open! Most cans come with the bones and skin included with the salmon meat. No worries, the bones and skin are perfectly safe to consume and actually boost the nutritional intake (hello, calcium and Omega-3)! Most of the bones will “crumble” during the cooking process and the skin will be unrecognizable in the formed cakes so no need to remove them. You will want to first drain the excess liquid using the lid in order to get the best outcome of the recipe below. Enjoy and drop me a comment below if you cook these up!

Paleo-Friendly Salmon Cakes

Paleo Salmon Cakes

Ingredients

  • 1-15 ounce can Wild-caught (Atlantic) Salmon
  • 1 egg, beaten
  • 1 TB ground flax
  • 1 TB avocado oil mayo
  • 2 TB Dijon mustard
  • 1/4 cup red onion, finely diced
  • 1/3 cup shredded or finely diced carrots
  • ½ TB chopped fresh parsley (omit if you don’t have any)
  • 1 tsp dried dill
  • ¼ teaspoon sea salt
  • ½ teaspoon black pepper
  • Zest of 1/4 lemon
  • 1 TB fresh squeezed lemon juice

Directions

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. In a medium-sized bowl, mix in first 5 ingredients as listed. Stir in the chopped onion, carrots, parsley, spices, herbs and lemon until well mixed. Separate the bowl into five parts and form cakes about 1” thick.  Bring burner to medium-heat and prep skillet with 1 tablespoon of avocado oil, placing salmon cakes around the edge of the skillet. Flip after 6-8 minutes, or until bottom is adequately seared enough so that the cake will not fall apart upon flipping. Cook other side for 6-8 minutes. While searing, prep a 9” x 13” oven safe dish with nonstick spray. Carefully transfer cakes to dish and let cook for 15-20 minutes.

Garnish with chopped parsley and lemon. Best served warm once out of oven.

Reinvent your leftovers by serving warm or cold leftover salmon cakes on arugula or mixed salad greens with diced cucumber, grape tomatoes and fresh parsley, dressed with lemon vinaigrette – 2 lemons, juiced (about 1/2 cup) plus 2 tablespoons Dijon mustard and 1/4 to 1/3 cup olive oil. Store vinaigrette in an air-tight mason jar in the fridge, put on the counter about an hour or so before you want to make your salad. I like my dressing a bit on the tart side. If this is too tart for you then you can always add 1-2 teaspoons of honey to cut the lemon’s bite.

Stock Your Pantry

Disclosure: By making purchases through any of the links provided on this page I may receive a small kickback. Never worry, all thoughts, recommendations and opinions shared with you are my own and I will never recommend a product I don’t stand behind.

 

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Lemony Kale Cleansing Smoothie

What I love about this smoothie: the perfect color and texture. And most importantly, the taste. The taste of this smoothie alone will have you feeling cleansed and rejuvenated. Maybe it’ll even have you wanting to make healthier choices for the rest of the day. I call this the spa effect. You are doing something wonderful for that beautiful body of yours, and your skin, muscles and your gut are thanking you, telling you “We want more of this!” Because eating healthy, moving daily and doing other actions that involve taking care of YOU are acts of self love, self respect and self responsibility. Yes, responsibility, does that sound odd? You’ve probably heard the saying, you can’t pour from an empty cup.

As a woman, even though I don’t have children, at times I’ve become victim to taking care of everyone and everything but me. When I’m consumed with pleasing and caring for others, I have a habit of letting my workouts, healthy eating preferences and my self care  practices get overlooked and shifted to the bottom of the priority pile. Then for days I’m left feeling down and out because I’ve been logging time for everything except for what makes me feel great. When I take time to cook healthy food I like, exercise and set aside a couple hours one night for a face mask and a foot soak, I feel amazing and I’m better able to tend to others’ needs, too. 

Don’t ever feel guilty for taking care of numero uno! Here are my tried and true tips for sticking to your personal commitments and making time in your schedule for you.

Step one, wake up and set your intention for the day. When I’m going through a stressful time I say, Just breathe. When I’m having a hard time finding the best in people I remind myself to love and accept all. Intentions are so powerful when you give them meaning and hold onto them, reciting them to yourself throughout the day as needed. It is amazing just how much of a difference you can make when you act and speak with intention, an open mind and a full heart. 

Step two, set your objectives for the day. What is going to make you feel best? It could be one thing, it could be a few small tasks. For me, it’s usually having nutritious food come meal time, hitting my lunchtime workout and setting time aside at night to decompress. If I happen to go a day or two without sticking to these main things, I tend to go a little haywire. So, to combat said craziness, I’m very dedicated to my routine and I treat these 3 things as if they are an item on my schedule that I committed to a friend or a colleague.

Step three, do the thing. No excuses, no holding back. Make time for the thing and then do the thing. Need motivation? Try this kickass smoothie that is energizing, refreshing and packed with so much goodness to power you through your day!

Lemony Kale Ingredients
Power Smoothie Ingredients:
 
Lemon as a boost of Vitamin C antioxidants, to improve absorption of the greens and for it’s naturally cleansing properties.
 
Ginger to ease bloating and promote good digestion.
 
Kale is a great inflammation-fighter packed with Vitamin C, calcium, iron and magnesium.
 
Cucumber for healthy skin and digestion, which comes from cucumber’s fiber, vitamins (A, C, magnesium, potassium and silica) and pure water content.
 
Coconut Water for hydration and electrolytes.
 
Cauliflower because I love adding it to my fruit-free smoothies for texture. Bonus, it also contains sulfur to promote phase-2 detoxification.

Lemony Kale Cleansing Smoothie

Lemony Kale Cleansing Smoothie

Ingredients
  • 1 scoop vanilla protein
  • 1 TB ground flax
  • 1 TB MCT oil
  • 1/2 fresh lemon, juiced
  • 1-inch peeled and diced ginger
  • 1/2 cup diced cucumber, skin on
  • 1/4 cup cauliflower
  • 1/3 cup frozen kale, or 1 cup fresh, hand shredded (can swap for spinach)
  • 1 cup coconut water
  • Optional Toppings: Sprinkle 1 teaspoon bee pollen, dash of cayenne pepper, sprinkle chia seeds

Directions

Mix all in a blender. If smoothie appears too thick, add a tablespoon of water at a time.

Stock Your Pantry With These Recommended Smoothie Ingredients

This recipe post is in no way a diagnosis or treatment of any medical condition. Because I care about your health, I do recommend you consult a physician if you feel you have any serious or prolonged symptoms relating to what is presented here. Also note that by making purchases through any of the links provided I may receive a small kickback. Never worry, all thoughts, recommendations and opinions shared with you are my own and I will never recommend a product I don’t stand behind.

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Gluten-free Carrot Cake Breakfast Bread with Cream Cheese Icing

On Instagram, I recently shared that I LO V E to bake on Saturday mornings, especially on holiday weekends. This past Easter weekend was no exception. I woke up on Saturday and before my first cup of coffee was empty, I was back in the kitchen whipping up some Cinnamon Roll Protein Bites for me and the man to snack on – which were delicious and a whole heck of a lot easier than regular cinnamon rolls!

rolls

With the buns out of the oven, I went onto prepping some side items that I was enlisted for taking to Easter dinner along with (what I hoped) a homemade carrot cake to win everybody over. Well, time ended up slipping away and before I knew it, I had to get ready to take on the day and leave the house. No time for carrot cake. Now usually I’m a chocolate-chocolate dessert kinda girl. If there’s not chocolate on it, in it or all over it than I’m probably not up for it. But, carrot cake is different. Especially at Easter. So needless to say, once I set my mind to making this dish and I didn’t have time, I was a little bummed. But I quickly let it go, and on Sunday we headed off to family’s house for Easter dinner.

To my delight, upon entering the house I set my carrots and baby potatoes onto the table and not a second later my eyes shortly landed on the carrot cake placed on the kitchen table. My heart sang. Rich, dense carrot cake filled with raisins and nuts, topped with a thick and creamy, sugary-sweet icing. And I mean the real icing, with the pure, hard-hitting sugar that shoots through your bloodstream and makes you want to bounce up and down without skipping a beat. This is what I was craving and I could taste it before I even took the first bite. So eat it, I did. It thought it would be worth it. I thought it would quench my yearning for Easter’s carrot cake. I even had a second slice after sharing the first with Jared hoping it would be better. But it wasn’t and it didn’t. Store-bought cakes are just not the same. So, Easter passed and my quest for a flavor-packed, cream cheese-slathered carrot cake lived on.

CreamCheeseIcing

A week or so later I was searching for a bread recipe to make for the week’s meal prep. I wanted to bake something that was tasty but could easily be a slice-and-go style breakfast. Then I remembered the carrot cake I had been longing for and it was settled. A gluten free, carrot cake-inspired bread with a homemade cream cheese icing. BAM! The rest is history, so they say. Except, being a breakfast food means I had to up the nutritional offerings a little bit, right? Since the bread is already gluten free and packed with real food ingredients that give it a ton of flavor, I decided to enhance the topping.

The cream cheese icing is a perfect base for a couple scoops of collagen peptides. Unflavored, grass-fed collagen peptide powder does not change the taste and adds 14 grams of protein* to your batch of icing. I have made the recipe using 2 servings of collagen peptides as listed below, but I suppose you could add more if you desired and taste as you go.

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Please leave me some love below! I want to know what you think, xo – Delana

Gluten-free Carrot Cake Breakfast Bread with Cream Cheese Icing

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Bread Ingredients

Bread Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees and line your bread pan with parchment paper, spraying the sides with nonstick spray. Mix all dry ingredients in a large bowl, keeping carrots, nuts and raisins off to the side. Carefully mix the liquid ingredients in a separate bowl and then slowly add wet mixture to the dry ingredients bowl, stirring as you go. Fold in carrots, walnuts, and raisins until well disperse and batter is well-blended. Transfer into bread pan and bake for 35-40 minutes. Once done, let cool in bread pan for 1-2 hours before removing.

Icing Ingredients

Icing Directions

Mix all in a bowl, starting with 1/4 cup of powdered sugar. If you prefer sweeter icing then I suggest adding an additional 1/4 cup after tasting. Consistency will depend on the brand and style of cream cheese. In testing this recipe, I also tried making the icing Greek-style cream cheese and found the consistency to be much thicker and more on the creamy rather than sweet side (even with a 1/2 cup sugar). Spread icing on the bread once cooled, or store icing in an air-tight container in fridge for up to 10 days.

Recipe Notes

Everything about this recipe is paleo-friendly except for the icing.

If you icing the bread upon serving, then you must store leftovers in the fridge to keep it fresh.

If not, I still recommend storing bread in the fridge for the best taste but it is not required.

I have provided links to ingredients to make it easy for you to stock up your pantry! I may receive a small incentive if you purchase any items from the links provided, but all thoughts and recommendations are of my own opinion.

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