Unblended guacamole is basically a salad, and definitely becomes one if you add some lettuce and a light lime vinaigrette. Instead of fried tortilla chips I added in some sautéed chickpeas for extra protein and fiber. Continue Reading →
Colcannon
This rather unattractive looking dish hails from Ireland and combines mashed potatoes with sautéed cabbage or kale for a hearty but nutritious side dish. The name comes from the Gaelic “cal ceannann”, meaning “white-headed cabbage”. More traditional recipes require some heavy dairy but plain almond milk and olive oil are good substitutes, with a little butter or Earth Balance thrown in at the end. Another variation I like is to cut the potatoes pretty small, into cubes around the size of dice and then steam them instead of boiling, a method that causes some of the nutrients to be lost in the water. If we are going to eat vegetables we may as well get the maximum nutritional benefit from them. Continue Reading →
Shamrock Smoothie
If you plan on consuming a fair share of green beer for St. Patrick’s Day tomorrow (also known as “National Drinking Day” in the holiday’s home country of Ireland), or if you’ve already been celebrating since the weekend, downing a nutrient dense smoothie like this can help your body recover faster. If you want to make it a little more like a (still healthy) milkshake and less like a smoothie you can try swapping the frozen banana and avocado for a scoop or two of plain coconut ice cream. Smoothies are really easy to digest since they are already blended up, this makes them a perfect snack or meal when your schedule is busy or if you are eating and drinking out at restaurants frequently. Continue Reading →
Piña Colada Energy Balls
Energy balls are compact sweet treats made from nutrient dense ingredients that are easily portable and provide a good dose of energy. Piña colada, or pineapple and coconut, is a delicious combination that can actually be pretty healthy and makes for slightly sweet and tropical tasting energy balls. Continue Reading →
Pink Soba Noodles in Creamy Peanut Dressing
This dish is a combination of soba noodles and several different vegetables cut down to noodle thinness and smothered in a peanut sauce, the inclusion of a beet gives all the rainbow colored ingredients a naturally vibrant pink hue. Soba noodles are traditionally made from buckwheat, a seed that has been cultivated for thousands of years, and despite the name it is actually not related to regular wheat and is completely gluten-free. Continue Reading →
Creamy Tropical Green Smoothie
I have been on a major smoothie kick the past few weeks, trying out different combinations every day and this one is my favorite so far. It has a lot of fruit and ends up making around 5-6 cups, big enough for breakfast or lunch after an intense morning workout or for sharing if it’s a less active day. Continue Reading →
Crispy Yam Fries
Yam fries in restaurants have crispy coatings that can’t quite be replicated by baking yam wedges with just salt and spices at home. However, adding in some cornmeal or corn flour can come close to copying the commercial versions, without the frying and addition of processed sugar and other additives. Cornmeal has larger granules and in the end the fries are a bit crispier, corn flour has smaller granules so it coats the yams better but they do no end up quite as crispy (I used corn flour for this batch so that is what the photos depict). Continue Reading →
Raw Nutella Truffles
Healthy treats can require lots of special and high-powered equipment to break down the whole food ingredients. Here I took a shortcut and chose only ingredients that would blend well- soft dates, ground nuts, nut butter, powdered cacao and vanilla extract. As long as the dates are fairly fresh they can be chopped up with a knife then the whole mixture can be mixed by hand, by massaging everything until it becomes a cohesive batter. Continue Reading →
Fresh Green Spring Rolls with Ginger Miso Dressing
When salad boredom strikes but you are still looking for something full of greens and nutrients, fresh spring rolls are the perfect meal. Here I added in some lime juice doused avocado and used a really salty miso dressing to keep them from being too light. For the rest of the fillers I used some springtime ingredients- pea shoots, fresh basil, spinach, slices of green onion and long strips of daikon radish. Continue Reading →
Orange Carrot Smoothie
Adding fresh juice (ideally cold-pressed for maximum nutrient retention) to a smoothie can really make the flavors pop. Both juices and smoothies are full of vitamins, minerals, antioxidants and enzymes. When consumed on an empty stomach they are very easy to digest and absorb- this means that the nutrients will be well utilized and replenish or build up our stores. Continue Reading →