Fresh herbs are an underutilized source of nutrients. Dark leafy greens like kale and collards are well known for their health properties but we often overlook simple herbs. They can be strong tasting but a salad like this with a thick dressing, hearty legumes like chickpeas and the sweetness of carrots can balance them out well. Continue Reading →
Citrus Quinoa Salad
This salad is all about magnesium, a highly undervalued and under-consumed mineral. Not only is it nature’s anti-stress nutrient (for its ability to calm us and promote restful sleep) but any deficiencies can be the secret culprit behind fatigue and PMS. Those chocolate cravings can really just be the body’s cry for more magnesium. Since magnesium plays an important role in the body’s energy production and helps to speed up many chemical reactions, our energy levels can start to dimish when we are not consuming enough. Continue Reading →
Blueberry Banana Pancakes
Health food is a multi-billion dollar industry that continues to grow every year. Products with tag lines like “vegan”, “gluten-free”, “low carb”, “natural”, “smarter”, “better-for-you” and “organic” can make a company massive profits. While some of these companies are devoted to making products that live up to the claims on their boxes, there are many that will take any shortcut and cost-cutting method available. For us, the consumers, this means that we cannot assume that a processed food product is all that it lives up to be. In the quest to eat healthier it is easy to start defining our diet with labels, when I was a hardcore vegan a box of waffles pretty much always made its way into my grocery cart and I ignored the list of preservatives and additives because what it didn’t contain was more important to me. Continue Reading →
Simple Tomato Sauce
Growing up, I learned about cooking by watching the Food Network, it would enthrall me for hours on end and I sometimes even faked a sick day if one of my favorite chefs was making something I wanted to learn about (this was before the days of YouTube). No matter their background or what type of cuisine they were creating, the chefs emphasized building a dish in stages and layering the flavors- this is especially obvious in sauces and soups. Continue Reading →
Coconut Lime Tamari Stir Fry
Coconut oil has a mild coconut flavor and it is one of the few plant oils to contain enough saturated fat to stay stable at high heats, making it ideal for stir frys. Tamari is a Japanese soy sauce with a richer but less salty flavor than regular soy sauce and it is generally made without wheat. Freshly squeezed lime juice is a great source of vitamin C and it really brightens up the flavors of a dish when squeezed on at the end. To get the most juice out leave the limes at room temperature then roll them firmly between your palm and the counter a few times before slicing and squeezing. Add these three ingredients together and you get a light sauce with some sweetness, some saltiness, a slight acidity and a fresh tropical flavor. Continue Reading →
Pecan Date Bites
These are so easy they do not require a recipe at all but I wanted to share them because they are a really great pre- or post-workout snack or sweet craving buster. Simply cut open a date, take out the pit and insert a pecan. They taste kind of like pecan pie and since both ingredients store well, an airtight container of these can be kept in your gym bag, desk, pantry or car for quick snacks and emergency hunger pangs. Continue Reading →
Apple Dijon Roasted Beet Salad
Beets are beautiful in a salad with their dark red color (or pink or gold- depending on the variety) and they add a unique earthy flavor, density and sweetness. Back in ancient times they were prized for their health properties and were thought to help with fevers and skin and digestive ailments. We now know them to be potent sources of antioxidants and very high in fiber and several vitamins and minerals. Technically they do help out with blood and liver “purification” because they have some nutrients that help the liver efficiently perform a crucial stage of detoxification (a task it is continually fulfilling). Since different cultures have been eating beets for many centuries there is lots of interesting folklore that has erupted around them pertaining to blood, love and the heart. Continue Reading →
Chocolate Banana Oat Muffins
I’ve been experimenting a lot in the past few months with different gluten-free baking techniques. Coconut flour and gluten-free blends are some widely used options but I have found that the end product when using large quantities is usually really crumbly or slightly rubbery. Combining rolled oats and nut flour however, produces muffins and loaves that are dense, cohesive and moist. Continue Reading →
Roasted Balsamic Orange Carrots
Carrots are a special vegetable in that most people like them, even those who don’t voluntarily eat or enjoy other vegetables. They have a natural sweetness and nice crunchy texture when raw, but roast them and the sugars caramelize and the taste gets richer and deeper, taking on a whole new level of deliciousness. Continue Reading →
Rosemary Salt Roasted Chickpeas
Flavored salts and herb blends are a great option if you do not have much of a spice arsenal. They enhance anything from meat and fish to soups to roasted vegetables, and in this case roasted chickpeas. Here I used my current favorite, a garlic rosemary sea salt that my brother’s girlfriend gifted me for Christmas, and an option that combines three flavors in one. Truffle flavored salt is a top choice if you want to go for the fancy factor and spice blends like Italian seasoning or Old Bay have subtle herby flavors or there are some more exotic options like Indian garam masala and Middle Eastern za’atar. Continue Reading →