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Cacao and Mint Chip Smoothie

I’ve been loving fresh mint lately, especially paired with dark chocolate (I mean who doesn’t)? This is your healthy take on the classic mint chocolate chip milkshake we all know and love. Enjoy!    MILK: Keeping this shake plant based choose your favorite milk alternative. 

Cha cha cha chia

Most of you have probably heard at some point or another that chia seeds basically have super powers… but why?  Fun fact, many are quick to call chia seeds a “superfood”, but the term “superfood” is actually made up… a marketing gimmick… shocker. The term “superfood” 

Lemon Chia Seed Muffins (df,gf)

IDK about you, but when I think of lemon anything, I think of spring/summer that in-between time where it’s too chilly to be eating watermelon popsicles, but too warm to be making pumpkin bread. These lemon chia seed muffins are my healthy take on the traditional lemon poppyseed muffins we all love.

Were you ever the person who always had to have an oversized muffin with your coffee to take to your morning class in college? Welp, that was me! I hope you enjoy this healthy take on an old school favorite of mine, made a little healthier. These classic poppy seed muffins are filled with fiber by switching out the poppy seeds with chia seeds! These are also gluten free and dairy free (minus the icing) for anyone with sensitivities! 

I prefer freshly squeezed lemon juice for 1) tastes much better and “real” compared to the stuff in a bottle! 2) lemons are cheap! Also, I couldn’t find my little zester (we just moved, give me some slack), so I just carefully cut little pieces of the lemon skin off with a sharp knife- worked just fine! P.S- anyone else have things straight up disappear when they move? Where did that zester go?

If you don’t have arrowroot starch on hand, I highly recommend grabbing a bag next time you’re at the grocery store! My favorite brand is by Bob’s Red Mill. You can purchase it on Amazon and have it delivered straight to your door if you’re not about that grocery store life right now. Arrowroot starch adds a great consistency when baking and gives that fluffiness we all strive for in our muffin creations. Arrowroot starch is also really great for breading anything or giving that extra crisp to your proteins when pan frying!

One little tip about chia seeds is that they are shelf staple! This means that you can buy them in bulk and keep them in the pantry for what feels like forever. I get a big bin also from Amazon, but you can find them at almost all grocery stores now a days!

Why do we want our coconut oil to be melted but not hot? We want that smooth consistency of it being a liquid, since coconut oil is more like a solid at room temperature. But we don’t want the oil to be too hot or else it will start to cook the eggs in the batter (yuck).

 

Recipe found below, let me know what you think! 

Ingredients:

Muffins:

4 eggs (room temp)

2 cups almond flour 

1/3 cup arrowroot starch

1/3 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice (about 2 large lemons)

1/4 cup raw honey (can sub maple syrup)

1/4 cup coconut oil (melted but not hot)

3/4 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp salt

1 tsp vanilla extract

4 tbsp chia seeds

Zest from 1 large or 2 small lemons

 

Drizzle:

1 tbsp fresh lemon juice

3 tbsp honey

2 tbsp greek yogurt

 

Process:

1) Preheat oven to 350 degrees

2) Lightly grease or line 12 muffin tins

3) Whisk eggs and add wet ingredients to a medium sized bowl. Add dry ingredients separately then combine to wet. No need for an electric mixer here. Slowly mix by hand until batter is evenly smooth.

  • Be careful not to over mix as this can lead to access air entering the mixture, leading to a finished product with air bubbles!

4) Fill muffin tins with batter and bake for 15-18 minutes.

 

For the drizzle- combine ingredients and whisk until smooth. Make sure that your muffins have completely cooled before frosting them.

 

Feel free to use your favorite store bought vanilla icing as well! I prefer Simple Mills, Vanilla, made with coconut oil!

 

Frost and enjoy!

Creamy Dairy-Free Pesto (DF,NF)

It’s no secret that I love pasta- I have it for dinner about 4 times a week. I usually go for a yummy red sauce, but have been looking for something a little different to switch it up. Thing is… almost every other option like 

Cilantro Lime Crema (df)

I was just thinking “what would be really good to top steak tacos, tonight”? And so this recipe came about! This dairy-free cilantro lime crema is light and refreshing. It’s the perfect amount of tang, yet has such a creaminess without any actual dairy cream! 

Game day nachos (gf, df, vg)

Sunday’s at our house, this time of year, always call for football, cozy clothes, & lots of game day snacks. My absolute favorite is anything salty/crunchy, especially nachos.

These nachos are gluten free, dairy free, and vegetarian. Feel free to top these off with some shredded chicken or spicy ground beef for your meat loving friends, but even the most meat loving of all love these nachos! 

Chips

First I start with my favorite grain free tortilla chips by Siete Foods! You can find these at Whole Foods, Amazon delivery, or directly from the Siete Foods website (www.sietefoods.com). I love their products and stand behind their mission for promoting an anti-inflammatory diet and fueling your body with real ingredients. If you’re unfamiliar with their brand, their packaging looks like this!

Toppings

Next for all the toppings! To keep this party favorite dairy-free I like to use Whole Foods 365 Brand Plant-Based Mozzarella Cheese Alternative.

I like this brand the best because it has the least amount of ingredients compared to big brands like Daiya! I also like this brand because this plant-based cheese alternative actually melts really well, unlike a lot of others I’ve tried!

The other necessary topping is the Siete Foods Cashew Queso. The trick with this Queso wanna be is that it MUST be warmed. It’s a no go for me unless it’s warm and melty 🙂 

Next, is refried beans. I add about 1/2 teaspoon of cumin powder to 1/2 can of refried beans to make them a little more flavorful. 

Add the cheeses and refried beans on before putting the nachos into the oven. Wait to top the nachos with all other ingredients until after!

As far as the rest of the toppings, it’s really up to what you like! Here I added red onion, chopped tomatoes, corn and black bean salsa, and avocado. 

Check out the finished product below!!

INGREDIENTS:

  • 1 bag Nacho Siete Chips
  • 1/2 can refried beans
  • 1/2 t cumin
  • 1 cup dairy free cheese
  • 1/4 cup red onion, diced
  • 1/4 cup tomatoes, diced
  • 1/3 cup corn & black bean salsa (Cowboy Caviar from Trader Joe’s)
  • 1/2 avocado, ripe
  • 1/4 cup Siete Cashew Queso

PROCESS:

  1. Preheat oven to Broil

  2. Spread chips out evenly on a foil lined baking sheet

  3. Combine refried beans and cumin, mix until well incorporated

  4. Add refried beans, dairy free cheese, and Siete Cashew Queso to chips

  5. Broil for 2-3 minutes

  6. Add the rest of your toppings to your nachos and enjoy 🙂

Some of the links above are affiliate links, meaning, at no additional cost to you, I will earn a small commission if you click through and make a purchase. I will only ever link products that I actually use and love!

Homemade Granola (Refined sugar free, GF, DF)

One of my favorite things to have prepped in the pantry is homemade granola. Reasons why… It’s delicious  Cheaper than store bought  Completely customizable to what you want to add Healthier than the store bought  Granola is one of those things that takes minimal time 

Summer Lentil Salad (V,GF,DF)

I wanted to make sure to share this one with ya’ll before the holiday weekend arrives because this easy summer salad is my favorite to bring to any function! This completely customizable dish takes zero prep time and comes together in less than 15 minutes! 

Cookie Dough Bites (V, GF, DF)

Friday night’s around here are pretty laid back. They usually involve pajamas, takeout, a movie, popcorn, & chocolate! So last Friday I came across the Whole Foods Prime member deals on Amazon. I noticed that Better Bites were on sale so of course I had to try them out! Not going to lie, they were pretty fricken delicious… So delicious that I took this as a challenge to recreate them, but healthier! Better Bites come off as the “healthier alternative” to classic cookie dough, but there are a few things I don’t love about them. Better Bites are great for those with common allergens like gluten, soy, dairy, eggs, peanuts, or tree nuts. But for me, all I really care about are the ingredients! Although Better Bites are free of these allergens, they include ingredients like sugar, canola oils, and a variety of gums. If you’re looking for something quick and convenient, go ahead! But if you have the time (it doesn’t take much) to make your own, then try mine out! 

Bonus- it’s way cheaper to make these cookie dough bites yourself!! 

What may be even better than the low price point is that there are only a few ingredients in this recipe! Once you get to know me, you’ll realize that I do NOT like to overcomplicate anything, including what I’ve got going on in the kitchen.  This recipe is gluten-free, dairy-free, vegan, vegetarian, all the good stuff! To get started you’ll need coconut flour, coconut oil, almond flour, maple syrup/agave or honey (non vegans), vanilla, sea salt, a plant based milk, and chocolate chips! 

My favorite chocolate chips are the Enjoy Life Semi-sweet Chocolate Mini Chips! I like the Mini Chips because they melt the quickest. You know how annoying it is to keep checking the microwave every 15 seconds to see if your chocolate has melted? Well that’s the kind of stuff that bothers me these days (lol). So you won’t have that problem with these Mini Chips. They are also great for those who are dairy-free! 

Back to the recipe! So you’ll always want to start first by mixing all of your dry ingredients, and then add in your wet ingredients. Wait to add the chocolate chips until you’ve gotten a pretty solid mixture. 

Ingredients:

For the cookie dough:

For the chocolate dip: 

Process:

  1. Mix all of the “cookie dough” ingredients together in a medium size bowl, waiting to add the mini chips last.

  2. Let your cookie dough harden in the freezer for about 2-5 minutes while you prepare your chocolate dip. 

  3. Prepare your chocolate dip sauce and microwave for 30 seconds. The coconut oil will help to melt the chocolate and give it that yummy smoothness. 

  4. Take your cookie dough out of the freezer and form about 25-30 bite sized balls. Let them sit on wax paper until you’re ready to dip them in your chocolate sauce.

  5. Carefully dip each ball into the chocolate sauce and place back on the wax paper to harden. 

  6.  Throw your cookie dough bites back into the freezer for a couple minutes to allow them to harden more quickly.
  7. Enjoy 🙂 

Store your cookie dough bites in the fridge for up to 1 week (if they last that long)!

Some of the links above are affiliate links, meaning, at no additional cost to you, I will earn a small commission if you click through and make a purchase. I will only ever link products that I actually use and love!