The Pomegranate {The Jewel of Winter}

When I was younger my family and I lived in Berlin for a year. With so many memories there it is crazy that the one that sticks out the most to me is eating a Pomegranate!!

I remember my sister and I put on white t-shirts and stood on the balcony as we tore open pomegranates and picked away at their honey-comb like structure until our hands were dyed red and our shirts were rose-y pink. We snacked on the seeds and spit them off the balcony to see who could spit the farthest. 

Whenever I grab a pomegranate I always think of that day!

So today as I carefully took apart a pomegranate I remembered the savage days of my seven year old self. 

So many seeds and I only used a 1/2 a Pomegranate!! Little delicious snackies for the rest of the day! 

My sister absolutely LOVES skittles & as I was popping these little poms into my mouth I felt like being a health guru and standing on a chair to declare the Pomegranate as "NATURES SKITTLES"

So there you have it. Natures Skittles are indeed Pomegranates. It is a fact. 

Maybe not a real fact... but here are some actual real facts about how bomb the pom is!

1. High in potassium, fiber and vitamin C
2. Contain high counts of antioxidants (tannins, anthocyanins and ellagic accid)
3. Their antioxidants are equal to those in Green Tea!
4. Reduce Cholesterol
5. Lower risk of Heart Disease, Cancer & fight Cell damage!
6. If you are vegan and have low Iron, these buddies can help you out there too! 
7. Naturally fat free, low in sugar and 80 calories for 100grams and 5 grams of fiber! Say what!?

So if you are up for a challenge and have a shirt BEGGING to be stained. I highly recommend skipping on over (extra exercise?) to the store and grabbing one! It can be a fun family activity or just something to keep your hands busy so you don't experience a bad case of the snack attack. 

But go get a nice handful of natures skittles :)

Where did these facts come from? Here & Here & Here

&& if you are feeling like you don't want to go to the trouble of deseeding a Pom? Some supermarkets (like Trader Joes) have already seeded Pomegranates!! 

Thanks for reading :)

Share on Tumblr

Pumpkin Lasagna {A Thanksgiving MUST}

After a friend came across this recipe we decided to take it to the Gluten Free level of taste-tasticness. 

If you are thinking "Does this taste like pumpkin pie" then the answer is yes.

If you are thinking "Does this taste like a savory dinner dish?" then the answer is yes. 

Pretty much the only way to explain this dish to you.. is for you to eat it... love it... and make it again and again and again. 

Ingredients:

10.5 oz fresh mozzarella, divided

3/4C Ricotta Cheese 

3 Tbs Butter (Feel free to sub with Coconut oil/butter)

3-4 Cloves of garlic (I say go with 4)

2 3/4 C Canned Pumpkin

3 tbs light brown sugar (or add 2 tbs of maple syrup)

1 tbs of maple syrup

1 tsp of cinnamon 

1/4tsp nutmeg

1/2 tsp kosher salt

pinch of white pepper

1 box of gluten free lasagna (do not cook before hand!)

**My suggestions for substitutions have not been tested but from past baking experiences they make good substitutions for people with allergies. If you are dairy free you can try using Daiya Cheese or another dairy free cheese to make this!)

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.

1. Shred  half of the mozzarella and mix with the ricotta in a large bowl. Set aside.
2. In a 2 quart pot, melt butter on low heat. Add garlic and brown lightly. Stir in pumpkin, brown sugar, maple syrup,  cinnamon, nutmeg, salt and pepper. Stir until it’s all warm. Remove from heat and set aside.
3. Smear a thin layer of pumpkin mixture on the bottom of a 9x9 glass baking dish.
4. Place 3 lasagna sheets across. Smooth a layer of ricotta/mozzarella on. Smooth a layer of pumpkin mixture on top. Repeat until you have 4-5 layers of pasta, cheese, pumpkin.
5. Once you finish, top it off with the rest of the mozzarella cheese!

If you have stolen a taste of the pumpkin mix... you are probably already growing impatient for it to be ready!

Cover it all up with foil & bake for 35min. Remove the foil & bake for another 5 minutes! 

If you love pecans like me you might want to sneak a few into the layers or just put them on top! Some things I would love to try with this recipe the next go round would be adding in more pecans (rather than just on top) and maybe putting raisins in it!?

I cannot wait to make this again for Thanksgiving! 

Enjoy Gobble-Gobble-Gobblin' this up!

Share on Tumblr

Food of the Day {November 10}

Family trip up to the ranch this weekend!! 

There is something about getting out into nature and just breathing in fresh crisp air that makes food even more delicious! 

It also provides some amazing back drops for my photos! 

I ended up eating half and putting the other half in the freezer to eat later!

 (uhm.. hello delicious healthy ice cream!?)

I also had a small serving of eggs & deer sausage but it didn't look to pretty on a paper plate :P

 

We played some cards (any Hand & Foot fans out there?) and snacked on a cream cheese/salsa mixture that I attempted to picture for you all but it just... doesn't look the prettiest :P 

But pretty much mix a container of philadelphia cream cheese & a cup or so of  salsa and stir. Serve it with some chips and you are golden for a delicious easy dip!

I was pretty stuffed from snackin' during cards so I made a chicken salad with some balsamic and olive oil and of course apple cider vinegar! 

For dinner tonight we experimented with some new flavors and something that should definitely be in consideration for your Thanksgiving dishes. 

I will be posting it tomorrow! But just to get your taste buds ready... here is a teaser. 

Pumpkin Lasagna....

Is it dessert... is it dinner? Who knows.. maybe the best of both worlds! 

Share on Tumblr

Secretly Green Blueberry Peach Protein Smoothie

I am so happy that it is November! 

I love fall fruits! It is all about them 'P' fruits!

Pomegranates

Persimmons

Pumpkins

PERFECT :)

I bought a persimmon 2 weeks ago from the store, I had been looking in the produce sectin for weeks and finally they arrived. I snatched one up and watched it like a hawk in our kitchen. I wanted to make sure I cut into it when it was perfectly ripe (when it starts to get a little soft/squishy)

So this morning, that moment came. 

Look at all that yummy goodness inside! Persimmons are so delicious! 

They taste like PURE CANDY!

 ((I just had a brain storm of making some type of persimmon spread... oh gosh yes))

Look at that beaut. it looks like it has honey drizzled on it -- but it doesn't. 

Nature is so magnificent. 

Okay, so you are probably thinking "This has nothing to do with blueberries or peaches.. or secret agents."

I am getting to that :)

Yesterday on Twitter I posted a little teaser to a smoothie I made. 

...and here it is!!

Isn't the blue so rich & vibrant! You cannot even tell there are healthy greens providing a sucker-punch of benefits into your mid-day snack/lunch.

Recipe:

3-5 Slices of Frozen Peaches

1/3C Frozen Blueberries

2 Handfuls of Greens (I used spring mix because that is all we had but I love to put Kale and Spinach usually!)

1 Scoop of Vanilla Protein Powder (I used VegaSport)

1/2C Ice

6oz of liquid (I usually mix water & almond milk or coconut milk)

1 Tsp of Cinnamon

Blend it all up until it reaches a 'smoothie/milkshake' tendency.

I love to think of my protein shakes as desserts. With them looking like a milk shake... and tasting like one too, why not let my imagination take me the rest of the way?

Healthiest Pasta Alternative!

If you follow me on Instagram Shameless self promotion :P  you have seen me use this technique a lot - and that is because it is THE ONLY WAY TO GO. 

I personally am one of those gluten free girls who really dislikes most gluten free alternatives. Most gluten free alternatives have no nutritional value... other than simple carbohydrates. 

lame. 

So why not use vegetables as noodles? Making noodles using veggies is honestly the easiest way to eat veggies!

Do you ever realize you can eat a huge bowl of pasta covered in sauce and other toppings... but you only eat like 3 slices of carrots?

If you give this a try I have no doubt you will be eating a whole bowl of these veggie noodles in no time!

Everyone has a carrot peeler right? PERFECT! 

I like to use zucchini & carrots together just for more color and flavors but feel free to only use one or the other whatever floats your boat.

 After washing your veggies (and peel the ickies off of the carrot) just start peeling! Go to town with it!

Carrot: Peel and rotate slowly until you reach the 'core' and then stop.

Zuchinni: Peel until you start to reach the seeds and then rotate (do this for all 4 sides). 

I usually save the left overs of the unshredded veggies and chop them up and just add them into the mix :P

Put the shredded veggies onto a skillet that holds them nicely and cover for ~5 minutes or until they get soft. 

Customize:

Add olive oil, garlic powder and pepper for a nice basic pasta.

Add bolognese (posting some great recipes for these in the future)

Add Chicken

Add Pesto

Add any other sauces! 

Sometimes I just make the basic pasta and then put some tilapia on top :)

Enjoy your healthy pasta!! :)

Share on Tumblr

Egg-celent

This is a post/ode to the egg I cooked earlier today. 

A lot of people still fear the yolk of eggs. What a shame! I think the egg as whole is the tastiest little protein packed breakfast there is! 

Here are some interesting facts about whole eggs you may not know!

• One egg yolk has ~300 Micrograms of choline. choline is a important nutrient that helps regulate the brain, nervous system and cardio vascular system!
• They have naturally occurring Vitamin D
• The yolk contains most of the nutrients in the egg!
• Some claim a whole egg is like a multi-vitamin! That is how many different vitamins & minerals it contains! 

Some complain that it is too 'fatty' - you are right they do contain fats in them. Healthy fats that are good for you!!! 

I love my eggs scrambled, fried, omelett-a-tized, hardboiled, green eggs and ham, baked into goodies etc. 

How do you like to eat your eggs??

Greek Salad Dressing & Marinade!

Happy Tuesday Everyone! 

This recipe is actually something my sister made... but I decided to turn the dressing into a marinade... So I guess we tag-teamed it :D

 I had some left over chicken breasts just sittin' in my fridge waiting to be made delicious. 

So last night I put them in a baggie & poured some of the homemade dressing inside and let it marinade overnight. 

It was absolutely divine. 

Especially because I then put the chicken in a salad this afternoon with the dressing! 

Greek Goddess Dressing:

3/4C Olive Oil 

1C Red Wine Vinegar 

2 Tbs Garlic Powder

2 Tbs Dried Oregano

2 Tbs Dried Basil 

1 Tbs Pepper

1 Tbs Salt

1 Tbs Onion Powder

1.5 Tbs Dijon Mustard

Mix & store in a tupperware, mason jar, old dressing bottle or use it as a marinade! 

For Marinade:

Just put desired amount of chicken in a ziplock bag and add ~1/2 Tbs of Dressing per breast. I just poured a splash in until each one was nicely coated in it & let it sit overnight (or 7-9 hours)

Share on Tumblr

Fish Tacos {5 minute meal!}

So today my friend Chelsea drove from Houston to come visit me!!

It was a day full of fitness, fun, food and of course friendship :P

We ran to a local park and did a beast-mode workout, laid under a tree and talked about nutrition and than continued to kick our butts into gear. By the time we got home we were ready for some good ol' healthy food :)

Tuna Tacos

Ingredients:

1-2 Corn Tortillas

1 Can of Tuna

1-2 TBS Salsa (we used Pace)

1 TBS Sauerkraut 

~2 tsp Olive Oil

Mini Handful of Shredded Carrots

Mini Handful of Spinach

Directions: Heat tortillas for 1 minute in microwave (or on stove).

Add spinach, then tuna, followed by sauerkraut and carrots and top it off with salsa and a drizzle of olive oil!

For an extra kick add some Cholula on top :P

I have a deep love for Cholula... gotta get me some spicy!

That recipe is enough for one person!

We cooked some broccoli while preparing this dish but who wants to see another picture of steamed broccoli?

So fast, delicious and nutritious!! I hope you all remember this little meal when you are in a hurry and need a fast fix!

Share on Tumb

Apple Cider Vinegar {Oh Momma}

So lately I have been really intrigued by Apple Cider Vinegar and its benefits & what not! 

Many articles claim it is amazing for people with gut issues. 

Hi, My name is Kayla and I have gut issues (holler to all my celiacs out there!)

So I recently just bought this:

Many 'health' icons such as the Tone It Up girls & Tosca Reno drink it on a daily occasion and acclaim it helps in metabolism benefits! 

Tosca Reno (Author of the Eat Clean Diet & Writer for Oxygen Magazine) has 2tbs with water with every meal and claims it helped her lose that...extra little in the middle. She also claims that it helped with her stomach pains & gut irritation. 

Sign me up right? 

So I am going to try having ACV at least once a day for the next month and see how I feel! 

After the first few days... let me tell you it was not the most pleasant of tastes. I highly recommend diluting it with juice or a ton of water. I have been doing 1-2TBS with a huge glass of water and juice (or emergen-c). 

But then I thought... why not just mix it in with my olive oil and put it on my salad? 

AND IT WAS AMAZING!

A Quick Salad Dressing for one:

1/2-1TBS ACV

1/2 TBS Balsalmic Vinegar (optional)

1/2 TBS Olive Oil

I like to add cinnamon, cayenne pepper, garlic powder, pepper and paprika to it too!

Click below for more information!! 

<<<<<<<

Homemade Almond Flour

A promise is kept! I wanted you all to able to make your own almond flour to make the pumpkin bread! No excuses :)

I bought a HUGE 3lb Bag of Wonderful Raw Almonds from Sam's Club for $12!! How insane! 

You can also probably find big bags at Costco but they are a little more pricey! I looked over the internet and found this 2lb bag that you can order for $7! The link for that is here

So I put 3 Cups in the Food Processor and put it on high for ~2-3 Minutes until it reaches a 'flour texture'.

No super secrets, it is SO EASY and just three cups makes a ton of Almond flour! I have made like 9C worth of Almond Flour & 3C of Almond butter with just this one bag! 

AND I STILL HAVE MORE IN THE BAG! :)

This is what it should look like when it is all blended up :)

Happy Baking :)

Share on Tumblr

Pumpkin Bread {It is even Paleo!}

This bread is not only "Clean" it is also Paleo, Gluten Free, Dairy Free, Soy Free.

But 100% full of deliciousness! ((Seriously... it is amazing))

Every Octo-vember (october and november together)  I always make pumpkin bread. It's kind of my thing.

So after being diagnosed with Celiac I wanted to make it Gluten Free. So last year I subbed in GF flour instead of regular flour. 

Now that I am a total health nut and want to feed my body with the best of the best I went and pretty much reconstructed the entire recipe to be clean, healthy, delicious and lick the bowl good! 

I mean.. come on.. look at that goodness right there. 

You BETTER bookmark, print, email, pin this recipe or something because it is taste-tastic.  (I don't want to sound threatening or anything.. but why would you deprive your taste buds from this experience?)

The Fairest Pumpkin Bread in all the Land:

Soak and plump in boiling or hot water for later use:

1/3 cups raisins  (would be fun to try others like currents, apricots, cranberries, etc.)

Mix together in largest bowl:

1/2C of Honey (It helps to microwave it for mixing purposes)

2 Eggs

1/3C Water

1/3 C Coconut Oil

1C Canned Pumpkin

*** Regarding the honey, it makes it deliciously sweet but you could probably do less than a 1/2C and still have it be delicious. Also you can use maple syrup instead!

Add these to the above mixture until well mixed:

1 2/3 C Almond Meal (Learn how to make it here)

1tsp Baking Soda

1/4tsp Baking Powder

3/4 tsp Salt

1/4tsp Pumpkin Pie Spice

1/2tsp Cinnamon

6 shakes of nutmeg

** You can also add in 1/4tsp Cloves and omit the PPS & Nutmeg!

Mix in:

2/3 cups raisins that have soaked/plumped and have been drained

2/3 cups chopped walnuts.  Toasting them lightly in the oven on in a pan releases even more flavor.

You will have about 4 cups of soupy like batter.

Bake in 350° oven until tester, (skewer or chopstick or toothpick), comes out almost clean.  The bread will continue to cook a bit as it cools, so you never want to wait until this or most any other baked item is fully cooked to remove from oven. If you’re not sure, slide your tester in from the side and sort-of pull out a test from the center.  Better to undercook than over cook

Times:  times listed are the ‘test’ times.  Could take 10-20 minutes more, depends on your oven.

            When you check, check all the loaves and rotate in your oven as needed for even baking.

            1 regular sized loaf pans (check at 45-50 minutes, may go to an hour)

            3 mini loaf pans (check at 40 minutes)

            2 regular sized coffee cans (check at 1 hour) - makes really cool ‘bullet’ loaves that give circular slices

Serving:

            Great warm or cool.  Getting old—great toasted with melted butter, cream cheese, almond butter, pumpkin seed butter, yogurt, pretty much everything :)

 

Freezes amazingly well.  Wrap in tin foil.  Super for gifts or to take to dinner at a friends house—especially if they tell you not to bring anything—they can have it for breakfast the next day!

The entire loaf was gone by the end of the day! Now before you think I single-handedly ate it all which I totally would.. I decided to share it with some of my families friends that live in our neighborhood. 

Please let me know if you make it & I totally understand if it takes you a little to comment... your hands will be preoccupied with pumpkin bread :)

If you are interested in the non-GF version OR want the measurements for a large batch you can click here

&& yes just in case you were wondering -- I did name this bread with fairytale backgrounds because I am obsessed with Once Upon a Time.

Share on Tumblr