Coconut sugar

Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Shake (Dairy free/Gluten Free)

March 14, 2018
Course

Ok, Ok…let me start off by saying, this shake is NOT going to taste just like that cookie dough milkshake you had from ColdStone, Dairy Queen, Culvers (insert your favorite ice cream shop here) last week! It just isn’t. If you want to splurge and have that, by all means, you go and get that milkshake – AND ENJOY IT! However, there are people and circumstances that are not allowed to consume that for numerous reasons. This recipe is here to aid in that situation or when you want a guilt free indulgence!

Personally, I’m a huge cookie dough lover. HUGGGEEE. That was always my go-to choice of ice cream. This shake has turned into a favorite because of that. It reminds me of that addicting flavor, but it isn’t packed with a bunch of unhealthy junk! BONUS: there’s fruit AND veggies in it! SHUT THE FRONT DOOR. VEGGIES IN A MILKSHAKE?! Yes, you read that right, and please don’t let it scare you.

Take a chance and make this the next time you feel that craving come on! It’ll surprise you!

Print Recipe
 Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Shake (Dairy free/Gluten Free)
Course Dessert
Servings
shake
Ingredients
Course Dessert
Servings
shake
Ingredients
Instructions
  1. In a blender, combine all ingredients (except chocolate chips) until smooth.
  2. Add the chocolate chips last, and blend for 20-30 seconds until they have broken up slightly.
  3. INDULGE!
Recipe Notes

*Feel free to use the whole banana! It will just make the shake thicker and have a bit more of a banana taste. If you don't want it thicker, just add a bit more nut milk!

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Mock-PB & Chocolate Chip Protein Balls

March 12, 2018
Course

I’m always looking for new snacks for my husband. Particularly, one’s that will stop him from buying a pack of peanut M&M’s every day during his break time at work. haha!

Typically, we stay away from peanuts, and other legumes, in general. We consume plenty of the other nuts out there. Some following the paleo diet, still eat them – to each his own! There is tons of information out there about the toxins in peanuts and the things they do to certain people’s digestive system. I’ll omit the rest of the explanation from this specific post, and leave you to the research, if you feel inclined…because, let’s be honest, you’re here for the recipe!

These little bites are a great snack and easy to whip up! NO BAKING REQUIRED! They’re packed with healthy fats and proteins – you can’t go wrong!


Print Recipe
 Mock-PB & Chocolate Chip Protein Balls
Course Snacks, Sweets
Prep Time 10 minutes
Passive Time 20 minutes-cooling
Servings
balls
Ingredients
Course Snacks, Sweets
Prep Time 10 minutes
Passive Time 20 minutes-cooling
Servings
balls
Ingredients
Instructions
  1. In a bowl, mix together flour, collagen peptides, coconut, coconut sugar, protein powder, salt, and maca powder until combined.
  2. Add sunflower seed butter, coconut oil, and vanilla to the dry mixture and stir to combine.
  3. Finally, stir in chocolate chips.
  4. Scoop out tablespoon-sized balls (I used a melon baller scoop) onto a baking sheet, or whatever mobile, flat surface that you have handy). Place tray in freezer to set for 20 minutes or in the refrigerator for a couple hours or until firm.
  5. Store balls in an airtight container in the fridge.
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White Chocolate Coconut Macadamia Bars {Dairy, Gluten, & Grain Free w/ Vegan option}

February 25, 2018
Course

I often think…do people really read all of this random stuff that bloggers type before they list the recipe? I won’t lie, I usually skip down to the recipe. I MIGHT scroll back up and graze over some paragraphs. That’s just the truth. Let’s be honest, some of us just want to looks at the pictures! 

 

Anyways, I will spare you an overly descriptive paragraph about how delicious these things are. They’re quick, basically raw, and so yummy! They’re packed with fiber, protein, and healthy fats – my kind of treat! 🙂

These are the collagen brands that I used for these bars. Either work for this recipe, but are not NECESSARY – see recipe notes. However, they add great protein and, you guessed it, collagen – which happens to be great for your hair, skin, digestive health, joint pains, and the list goes on! It’s an awesome addition to pretty much everything!

Print Recipe
 White Chocolate Coconut Macadamia Bars {Dairy, Gluten, & Grain Free w/ Vegan option}
Course Dessert
Cook Time 10 minutes
Passive Time 20 minutes - cooling
Servings
bars
Ingredients
Course Dessert
Cook Time 10 minutes
Passive Time 20 minutes - cooling
Servings
bars
Ingredients
Instructions
  1. In a saucepan over medium heat, melt cocoa butter, sugar, milk, oil, and vanilla. Bring to a simmer and cook until it's well combined and slightly thickened. Set aside to cool slightly.
  2. In a bowl, combine coconut flour, collagen, and shredded coconut.
  3. To that, add the melted cocoa butter mixture and combine.
  4. Finally, mix in the chopped nuts.
  5. In an 8X8 pan***, evenly spread out mixture. You can top the bars with extra shredded coconut and nuts, if desired. Just make sure to slightly press it into the dough.
  6. Freeze for 20 minutes to set or refrigerate overnight.
  7. Slice however you'd like and ENJOY!
Recipe Notes

*if you don't have coconut milk (I used the So Delicious Brand of "culinary coconut milk"), you can sub. cashew or almond milk. I would just only add 1/2 cup at first, and add more towards the end of the recipe if you need it! It's not as creamy as coconut milk and you don't want the bar dough too runny!

**sub 6 scoops of Vital Proteins Collagen Peptides or 1/2 cup of almond flour - these two subs will yield bars with less of a coconut flavor.

***I like to line the pan with parchment paper. Just make sure to cut it bigger than the pan so you can pop them out for an easy clean up!

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2-minute Tropical “Ice Cream”

February 22, 2018
Course

What’s better than ice cream you can make in 2 minutes?! When your sweet tooth hits, it’s nice to have something delicious AND on the healthier side to indulge in! This creamy and fruity treat is hitting all of the right spots and taking my winter blues away! It only has a handful of ingredients and comes together super quick in a blender! That is, if you have the fruit already frozen in your freezer! I’m a smoothie lover, so I almost always have quite the selection of fruit, including peeled and sliced bananas – which happen to be the base for this creamy deliciousness!

This is not the super, scoop-able type of ice cream. It’s a super-thick, smoothie-like consistency. You can definitely freeze it in a pan and scoop it at a later time. However, it gets HARD. So you will have to let it thaw quite a bit if you freeze it solid! Either way, way it’s an indulgence that you can feel good about eating! Just don’t OVER-indulge. 😉

Print Recipe
 2-minute Tropical "Ice Cream"
Course Dessert
Cook Time 2 minutes
Servings
cups
Ingredients
Course Dessert
Cook Time 2 minutes
Servings
cups
Ingredients
Instructions
  1. In a blender, combine all ingredients until smooth! Afterwards, I like to fold in some chopped up freeze-dried fruit for texture. Totally optional!
  2. BOOM! YOU'RE DONE!
Recipe Notes

*The riper the banana, the sweeter it will be. Depending on your preference, if you used very ripe bananas, you may need very little sugar. Just do a little taste-test and add more if you want! 🙂

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Korean BBQ Meatballs

February 2, 2018
Cuisine
Course

 

Print Recipe
 Korean BBQ Meatballs
Course Appetizers, Dinner
Cuisine BBQ, Korean
Cook Time 25 minutes
Servings
meatballs
Ingredients
Korean BBQ Sauce
Korean meatballs:
Course Appetizers, Dinner
Cuisine BBQ, Korean
Cook Time 25 minutes
Servings
meatballs
Ingredients
Korean BBQ Sauce
Korean meatballs:
Instructions
  1. In a deep, sauce pan over medium heat, add 1 tsp of ghee/oil and chopped green onions. Saute for 5 minutes or until soft. Set aside to cool.
  2. In the same pan, over medium heat, add all of BBQ sauce ingredients and bring to a simmer. Cook for 5-8 minutes or until sauce has reduced slightly. Reduce the heat to low and cover while you prepare the meatballs.
  3. In a bowl, mix together the remaining meatball ingredients along with the cooled green onions.
  4. To the BBQ sauce, drop 2 tbsp size balls into the mixture until one layer has formed. It's ok if the meatballs are touching slightly, just DO NOT overcrowd the pan or try to stir them around just yet.
  5. Increase heat to medium, cover, cook for 3-5 minutes.
  6. Remove cover and shake the pan slightly. Gently flip each meatball. If you find that you do not have enough liquid in the pan, feel free to add about 3-4 tbsp of water.
  7. On top of the first layer of meatballs, add another layer of the meat mixture, in 2 tbsp size balls. Cover and cook for another 10 minutes - shaking the pan every few minutes to slightly move the meatballs around. Repeat until you have used up all of the meat.
  8. After 10 minutes, uncover the pan and gently flip the meatballs around, moving the ones from the bottom to the top. Reduce heat to low, cover, and let simmer for another 5-10 minutes or until you're ready to serve!
  9. Serve these on top of cauliflower rice or as bite-sized appetizers!
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Double Chocolate Blender Muffins

January 30, 2018
Course

Beware. These Double Chocolate Blender Muffins are addicting! Partly, because they couldn’t be easier to make! They’re basically a brownie in a little muffin form and come together so quickly! You don’t even need a blender if you’ve got some muscles handy! They’re filled with good-for-you ingredients, have no refined sugars, dairy, or gluten! They’re treat you can feel good about eating! …As long as you don’t eat the whole batch in one day! 😉 They’re pretty tasty though…so I wouldn’t blame you!

These are made with plantains. They look like a large banana. Unripe plantains are green. They’re very firm and starchy. Cooking with them is a lot like cooking with potatoes. They can be a pain to peel, so if you aren’t familiar. Youtube it! There are a bunch of videos that easily explain how to do it! That’s how I learned!

When a plantain is ripe, it becomes a bit sweeter and less starchy. These are the ones used for this recipe. However, they are not as soft as a ripe banana. Therefore, blending them up makes things easier. If you don’t have a blender handy, just mash them up until there are no clumps left. They’ll still turn out delicious!

Print Recipe
 Double Chocolate Blender Muffins
Course Breakfast, Dessert
Prep Time 5 minutes
Cook Time 15-18 minutes
Servings
muffins
Ingredients
Course Breakfast, Dessert
Prep Time 5 minutes
Cook Time 15-18 minutes
Servings
muffins
Ingredients
Instructions
  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
  2. To a blender, add all of the ingredients, except for the chocolate chips.
  3. Blend until smooth.
  4. Add in chocolate chips and pulse - just to combine.
  5. To a cupcake pan, add about 1/4-1/3 cup of batter (depending on choice/size of pan) to each opening.
  6. Bake for 15-18 minutes or until the center of the muffins are done. Test the inside with a toothpick - if it comes out clean after inserting in the center, it's done!
Recipe Notes

*I tried this without the baking soda and my husband still loved them! They're more dense, moist, and brownie-like. Either way, you can't go wrong!

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Single-Serve Blueberry Muffin (Dairy, Gluten, & Grain Free)

January 19, 2018
Course

This recipe is perfect when you just want one muffin to yourself! …Or when you don’t want to practice self control by not eating a whole batch of some baked goods! You can bake it all in one little crock for a muffin sized helping, or divide it into 3 cupcake tins – whichever you have on hand!

It’s super moist and has just the right amount of sweetness for breakfast!



Print Recipe
 Single-Serve Blueberry Muffin (Dairy, Gluten, & Grain Free)
Course Breakfast
Cook Time 35 minutes
Servings
large muffin
Ingredients
Course Breakfast
Cook Time 35 minutes
Servings
large muffin
Ingredients
Instructions
  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
  2. In a small bowl, combine all ingredients, except for the blueberries. You'll want to gently fold those in last.
  3. Once all of the ingredients are combined, add the batter to a small oven-safe crock, muffin pan, or a cupcake pan (this batch makes 3 standard sized cupcakes).
  4. If using one baking dish or muffin pan, bake for about 30-35 minutes or until the center is done. This may vary depending on the thickness of the muffin. If using cupcake liners, bake for 18 minutes.
  5. ENJOY!
Recipe Notes

*If subbing coconut oil, make sure to combine all of the ingredients very well before adding the milk and egg. Those colder ingredients will prevent the batter from mixing properly.

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Sweet Potato Soufflé with Bacon Crumble

December 2, 2017
Course

Any casserole-type dish, I pretty much love. This one has a fancy name though 😉 AND it has bacon in it, so….that’s reason enough to try this out. PLUS you can say you made a soufflé and sound all fancy! Ha! It’s so easy to make – always a plus.

This dish has been something I brought to family dinners for years. However, it’s only recently been paleo-fied and doesn’t taste a bit healthy! It’s not filled with tons of brown sugar or marshmallows, and the eggs make the texture AMAZINGGG. I love sweet potatoes, but their texture can be somewhat dense and just. gets. old. This soufflé is like scoops of sweet pillows with bacon on top. Is there anything better?

Enough already, here’s the recipe. 🙂

Print Recipe
 Sweet Potato Soufflé with Bacon Crumble
Course Casseroles, Side Dish
Prep Time 15 minutes
Cook Time 40 minutes (plus cooling)
Servings
Ingredients
Crumble
Course Casseroles, Side Dish
Prep Time 15 minutes
Cook Time 40 minutes (plus cooling)
Servings
Ingredients
Crumble
Instructions
  1. Peel and cook the sweet potatoes. I used my Instant Pot. I peeled them, chopped them into 1 1/2"-2" chunks, added 1 cup of water and cooked them for about 8 minutes. BOOM.
  2. Once your sweet potatoes are cooked, combine them with the remaining ingredients with the exception of the crumble ingredients. You should get a light orange, somewhat runny consistency.
  3. To make the crumble, combine your flour, butter, sugar, and bacon. USE COLD BUTTER. The crumble consistency will change if you use melted or room temperature. It will still taste delicious, it just won't be as crumbly. 🙂 It takes a few extra minutes to combine it all, but it's worth it!
  4. Pour your sweet potato mixture into a deep baking dish. I used one that was about 4" deep. If you use a more shallow one, it will change the consistency a bit and cook quicker.
  5. Top with your crumble and bake for 35-40 minutes until it's deep brown.
  6. ...that topping, though. **drools** Let the soufflé rest for a good 20 minutes. If you don't it will fall apart slightly when you serve it. Again, it'll still be delicious...just not as pretty. 🙂 ENJOY!!
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